Fishers Of Men! Come!

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The Question

I was fishin’ with Didymus
And with Zebedee’s sons
And a couple other ones from Galilee
There at the sea of Tiberius
I was casting my net
I was trying to forget what He said to me
“You’re a fisher of men.”

Then a Man on the seashore
He was walking along
And with a voice like a song asked a question
And when He learned that we had no fish
He said, “Try it again.
Maybe then you’ll understand My lesson.”

What do you love?
Do you love Me?
What do you love?
If you love Me, feed My lambs

When I learned His identity
Well, I jumped right in
And I started to swim like the child in me
I reached the land and He welcomed me
With some fish and bread
He was back from the dead and reminding me
I’m a fisher of men

The others came and we drew the net
And we all had to pull
It was so overfull it was breaking
After breakfast and we all broke bread
I could plainly see that His heart for me was aching

What do you love?
Do you love Me?
What do you love?
If you love Me, feed My lambs

Words and Music by Karl Kohlhase
© 2003 karl kohlhase

Download the MP3 here.
 

**Mark 1:17 - “Come, follow Me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men.” **
 
Suffer for my sheep

The Son of man has come not to be served, but to serve, and to give his own life as a ransom for many. Consider how the Lord served, and see what kind of servants he bids us to be. He gave his own life as a ransom for many; he ransomed us.
But who of us is fit to ransom anyone? By his blood, by his death we were ransomed from death; and we who lay prostrate were raised up by his humiliation. And yet we, too, have a duty to contribute our meager offerings to his members, for we have become his members. He is the head; we are the body.
In his letter, the apostle John holds up the Lord as our model. Jesus said: Whoever wishes to be the greater among you will be your servant, just as the Son of Man has come not to be served but to serve and to give his own life as ransom for many. So in his exhortation to us to act likewise, John says: Christ laid down his life for us; so we, too, ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
After his resurrection our Lord asked: Peter, do you love me? and Peter replied: I do love you. The question and the answer were repeated three times. And each time the Lord added: Feed my sheep. In other words, if you want to show that you love me, then feed my sheep. What will you give me if you love me, since you look for everything to come from me? Now you know what you are to do if you love me: Feed my sheep. Thus we have the same question and answer once, twice, three times. Do you love me? I do love you. Feed my sheep. Three times Peter had denied in fear; three times he confessed out of love. By his replies and his profession of love, Peter condemned and wiped out his former fear. And so the Lord, after entrusting his sheep to him for the third time, immediately added: When you were a young man, you would gird yourself and go wherever you wished. But when you are old, another will gird you and take you where you do not wish to go. This he spoke signifying by what death he was about to glorify God. Thus he foretold Peter’s own sufferings and crucifixion. By this the Lord suggested that feed my sheep meant suffer for my sheep.
~ St. Augustine, Bishop ~
 
As the Father sent me, so I am sending you

Our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed certain men to be guides and teachers of the world and stewards of his divine mysteries. Now he bids them to shine out like lamps and to cast out their light not only over the land of the Jews but over every country under the sun and over people scattered in all directions and settled in distant lands.
That man has spoken truly who said: No one takes honor upon himself, except the one who is called by God, for it was our Lord Jesus Christ who called his own disciples before all others to a most glorious apostolate. These holy men became the pillar and mainstay of the truth, and Jesus said that he was sending them just as the Father had sent him.
By these words he is making clear the dignity of the apostolate and the incomparable glory of the power given to them, but he is also, it would seem, giving them a hint about the methods they are to adopt in their apostolic mission. For if Christ thought it necessary to send out his intimate disciples in this fashion, just as the Father had sent him, then surely it was necessary that they whose mission was to be patterned on that of Jesus should see exactly why the Father had sent the Son. And so Christ interpreted the character of his mission to us in a variety of ways. Once he said: I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance. And then at another time he said: I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. For God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
Accordingly, in affirming that they are sent by him just as he was sent by the Father, Christ sums up in a few words the approach they themselves should take to their ,ministry. From what he said they would gather that it was their vocation to call sinners to repentance, top heal those who were sick whether in body or spirit, to seek in all their dealings never to do their own will but the will of him who sent them, and as far as possible to save the world by their teaching.
Surely it is in all these respects that we find his holy disciples striving to excel. To ascertain this is no great labor; a single reading of the Acts of the Apostles or of Saint Paul’s writings is enough.
~ From a commentary on the Gospel of John
by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishop ~
 
Code: 
 Whoever is in Christ is a new creation; the old has passed away. Now by the "new creation" Paul means the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a heart that is pure and blameless, free of all malice, wickedness or shamefulness. For when a soul has come to hate sin and had delivered itself as far as it can to the power of virtue, it undergoes a transformation by receiving the grace of the Spirit. Then is it healed, restored and made wholly new. Indeed the two texts: Purge out the old leaven that you may be a new one, and: Let us celebrate  the festival, not with the old leaven but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, support those passages which speak about the new creation. 

 Yet the tempter spreads many a snare to trap the soul, and of itself human nature is too weak to defeat him. This is why the Apostle bids us to arm ourselves with heavenly weapons, when he says: Put on the breastplate of righteousness and have your feet shod with the gospel of peace and have the truth around your waist as a belt. Can you not see how many forms of salvation the Apostle indicates, all leading to the same path and the same goal? Following them to the heights of God's commandments, we easily complete the race of life. For elsewhere the Apostle says: Let us run with fidelity the race that has been set before us, with our eyes on Jesus, the origin and the goal of our faith.

 So a man who openly despises the accolades of this world and rejects all earthly glory must also practice self-denial. Such self-denial means that you never seek your own will but God's, using God's will as a sure guide; it also means possessing nothing apart from what is held in common. In this way it will be easier for you to carry out your superior's commands promptly, in joy and in hope; this is required of Christ's servants who are redeemed for service to the brethren. For this is what the Lord wants when he says: Whoever wishes to be first and great among you must be the last of all and a servant to all.

 Our service of mankind must be given freely. One who is in such a position must be subject to everyone and serve his brothers as if he were paying off a debt. Moreover, those who are in charge should work harder than the others and conduct themselves with greater submission that their own subjects. Their lives should serve as a visible example of what service means, and they should remember that those who are committed to their trust are held in trust from God.

 Those, then, who are in a position of authority must look after their brothers as conscientious teachers look after the young children who have been handed over to them by their parents. If both disciples and masters have this loving relationship, then subjects will be happy to obey whatever is commanded, while superiors will be delighted to lead their brothers to perfection. If you try to outdo one another in showing respect, your life on earth will be like that of the angels.
~ St. Gregory of Nyssa ~
 
Question: whatever the fisher’s of men program is, I see how the supplement you showed us is interesting, but do you have a link to the main of whatever this is?
 
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RobNY:
Question: whatever the fisher’s of men program is, I see how the supplement you showed us is interesting, but do you have a link to the main of whatever this is?
Click to expand...
**USCCB Committee on Vocations Announces New **
**“Fishers of Men” Program **(15:03)Recent studies have shown that a personal invitation from a priest can have a significant positive impact on young men considering the priesthood. Unfortunately, those same studies reveal that the number of priests who offer such invitations and actively engage young men discerning a call to the priesthood is actually quite low. Developed by the USCCB Committee on Vocations, “Priestly Life and Vocations Summit: Fishers of Men” is a new program meant to renew priests’ sense of vocational fulfillment and to encourage them to draw on that satisfaction and invite other men to pursue the priesthood. The following is an interview with Bishop Blase Cupich, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Vocations, and Fr. Edward Burns, Executive Director of the USCCB Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation.

Formats Available : RealPlayer | Windows Media
 
Where do you pasture your sheep, O good Shepherd, you who carry on your shoulders the whole flock? For it is but one sheep, this entire human race whom you lift onto your shoulders. Show me the place where there are green pastures, let me know restful waters, lead me out to nourishing grass and call me by name so that I can hear your voice, for I am your own sheep. And through that voice calling me, give me eternal life.
Tell me, you whom my soul loves. This is how I address you, because your true name is above all other names; it is unutterable and incomprehensible to all rational creatures. And so the name I use for you is simply the statement of my soul’s love for you, and this is an apt name for making your goodness known. Very dark though I am, how could I not love you who so loved me, that you laid down your life for the sheep you tend? No greater love can be conceived than this, that you should purchase my salvation at the cost of your life.
Show me, then says the bride, where you tend your sheep, so that I may find the saving pasture and be filled with heavenly nourishment. For whoever does not eat this food cannot enter eternal life. Let me run to you, the spring, and drink the divine draught that you cause to pour forth for the thirsty, offering water from your side opened by the spear. Whoever drinks of this becomes a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.
If you feed me thus, then you will surely make me lie down at noonday, and I shall at once sleep in peace, resting in a light that knows no shadow. Indeed, there is no shadow at noon, for the sun shines directly over that summit where you make those you tend lie down, and take your children with you to your bed. No one is judged worthy of this noonday rest who is not a child of light and of the day. But if anyone makes himself equally distant from the shadows of daybreak and those of nightfall, that is, from the origin of evil and its conclusion, the sun of righteousness makes him lie down at noontide.
Show me, then, says the bride, how I should lie down; show me the path to this noonday repose, lest my ignorance of your truth cause me to stray from your good guidance and consort with flocks which are strangers to your.
Thus speaks the bride, anxious about the beauty God has given her, and seeking to learn how her comeliness may continue for ever.
~ St. Gregory of Nyssas ~
 
The Fifth Chapter

**THE DIGNITY OF THE SACRAMENT AND OF THE PRIESTHOOD **

THE VOICE OF CHRIST

HAD you the purity of an angel and the sanctity of St. John the Baptist, you would not be worthy to receive or administer this Sacrament. It is not because of any human meriting that a man consecrates and administers the Sacrament of Christ, and receives the Bread of Angels for his food. Great is the Mystery and great the dignity of priests to whom is given that which has not been granted the angels. For priests alone, rightly ordained in the Church, have power to celebrate Mass and consecrate the Body of Christ.

The priest, indeed, is the minister of God, using the word of God according to His command and appointment. God, moreover, is there – the chief Author and invisible Worker to Whom all is subject as He wills, to Whom all are obedient as He commands.

In this most excellent Sacrament, therefore, you ought to believe in God rather than in your own senses or in any visible sign, and thus, with fear and reverence draw near to such a work as this. Look to yourself and see whose ministry has been given you through the imposition of the bishop’s hands.

Behold, you have been made a priest, consecrated to celebrate Mass! See to it now that you offer sacrifice to God faithfully and devoutly at proper times, and that you conduct yourself blamelessly. You have not made your burden lighter. Instead, you are now bound by stricter discipline and held to more perfect sanctity.

A priest ought to be adorned with all virtues and show the example of a good life to others. His way lies not among the vulgar and common habits of men but with the angels in heaven and the perfect men on earth. A priest clad in the sacred vestments acts in Christ’s place, that he may pray to God both for himself and for all people in a suppliant and humble manner. He has before and behind him the sign of the Lord’s cross that he may always remember the Passion of Christ. It is before him, on the chasuble, that he may look closely upon the footsteps of Christ and try to follow them fervently. It is behind him – he is signed with it – that he may gladly suffer for God any adversities inflicted by others.

He wears the cross before him that he may mourn his own sins, behind him, that in pity he may mourn the sins of others, and know that he is appointed to stand between God and the sinner, never to become weary of prayer and the holy offering until it is granted him to obtain grace and mercy. When the priest celebrates Mass, he honors God, gladdens the angels, strengthens the Church, helps the living, brings rest to the departed, and wins for himself a share in all good things.
 
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