Why they "cannot" see

[Nick9]

I was thinking about your words this morning after hearing today’s gospel. The apostles had been out all night fishing, but had caught absolutely nothing! What intrigued me was that Jesus brought the fish to them when they trusted Him and let down their nets.

May we pray for the sensitivity to await the timing of the draught of fish.

it was that statement of mine which you quoted which I felt bad about the other day. It was as if I was saying they were a waste of time, when obvioulsy they are not, especially if they are simply waiting for their call from God.

Thanks for your reflection. I have been reading this thread since I last posted and I like the message you all give.

I really like the message of trusting in Jesus because, to be honest, I feel so useless myself at evangelizing. The few successes I seem to get are often trampled on somehow. Still, must be positive! I wonder if it is the measure of trust which we have which determines the measure of success?

Thanks again and I may be back later…

 

[Joysong]

Nick9:

I really like the message of trusting in Jesus because, to be honest, I feel so useless myself at evangelizing. The few successes I seem to get are often trampled on somehow.

Do you also remember your words below, where you said you ‘argued over and over’ but the result was a shoulder shrug that it’s all a mystery?

I have argued my beliefs with him over and over and he usually agrees with me (unless he is just being polite! ), but he still ends by saying: it’s all a mystery.

I think when a person is truly listening, they would start an inquiry process, “tell me more!” The indifference would indicate that his ‘season’ to sprout is not yet watered enough. It is a gift of discernment, at times, to know when we should shake the dust, or when we continue to share our good news. A good rule of thumb is in Jesus’s words, “If you enter a house and they receive you, stay there. But if anyone does not receive you, shake the dust.”

As St. Francis once said, preach the good news, and if necessary, use words. Powerful!

 

[Nick9]

Do you also remember your words below, where you said you ‘argued over and over’ but the result was a shoulder shrug that it’s all a mystery?

I think when a person is truly listening, they would start an inquiry process, “tell me more!”

That would save a lot of unnecessary effort. It would also free you to cast the seed liberally instead of trying to plant one seed in barren soil. Some is bound to take root then you would think.

It is interesting in our parish, we put much effort into trying to get people to come to church, but the ones who do come and stay are often those uninvited. They just appear as if from nowhere. I have often reflected on this and concluded that it is God who does the drawing and we simply have to receive them. At least in our case.

It is a gift of discernment, at times, to know when we should shake the dust, or when we continue to share our good news. A good rule of thumb is in Jesus’s words, “If you enter a house and they receive you, stay there. But if anyone does not receive you, shake the dust.”

I wish I were more bold in speaking of my faith. Maybe I am not ready for it. Maybe I need softening in my attitude before God entrusts me as His messenger. My best method is to give a Sacred Heart medal to someone and tell them what trusting in Jesus has done for me. In all cases, the person has accepted it and I have later found that many still carry them with them. The thing is, I don’t do it enough. In fact the last two times I got a new wallet and put a medal into it, I lost both the wallet and medal in a short space of time. I am thinking that God is saying: if you don’t give them away, I will make sure someone gets them.

As St. Francis once said, preach the good news, and if necessary, use words. Powerful!

We can only hope that our actions are effective. I suppose if people are aware of our faith then our actions will continue the evangelization process. Sorry for speaking so much about myself! I like to offload sometimes. I am thinking that someone who knows me could easily work out who I am by reading my posts.

thanks Carole

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Re example and “preaching the Gospel without words”. In my life there have been a number of crossroads or epiphanies…times that made me reflect seriously on my life and to initiate radical change. One of these was in my mid twenties (I am no almost 63yrs old).

At the time I was working for a very difficult man as his secretary. He could almost get to the point of being personally abusive and mostly he took all his frustrations out on his sales team. In our breaks our boss was the prime subject of conversation (while ensuring he was not within hearing!!!) and criticism in which I joined and I was a known Catholic and I often sprouted about the virtues of Catholicism too.
One of the Sales Team, his name was Jeff, was a very quiet but outstandingly polite and gentle man. Most all who left my boss’s office would call into mine and groan and complain about our boss and I was most affirming of this. All except Jeff, who would make excuses for the boss and his persistent bad moods. I came to really admire, if not imitate, Jeff. He never had a bad word to say about anyone that I had ever heard. He was extremely gentle and extremely kind.

One break we were all in the lunch room talking about religion and the topic of criticism and mine loudest of all was the Seventh Day Adventist religion. Our boss wandered into the room and listened for a moment and then said “Jeff is a Seventh Day Adventist”. I was totally shocked and this sent me back to my drawing board to take a long hard look at my Catholicism and with deep shame and justly so, all the bad example I had given and the terribly bad witness of what Catholicism was all about. This also sent my back to The Gospel and to really ponder in connection with my own life and with a view to radical change.

The Holy Spirit can crop up in what to me might be the ‘strangest of places’. Who had the biggest impact on radical change in my life? A Seventh Day Adventist man and he had not mentioned religion once, he simply lived The Gospel…whether he consciously realized this or not. And who was the messenger into my life…my boss, whom I had totally disdained, who had shared that Jeff was a Seventh Day Adventist.

All this asked me to relook too at my own radically false concepts about other religions and people. It called me too to listen to life with care and indeed with gratitude.

If we do radically live out the Gospel and courageously in our own lives, we may be an influence for radical change that we will never know anything about this side of Heaven.

.

 

[Joysong]

http://bestsmileys.com/fireworks/5.gifBRAVO!
Barb! What an awesome witness! It needs no further words, just our own reflection.

 

[ncjohn]

If we do radically live out the Gospel and courageously in our own lives, we may be an influence for radical change that we will never know anything about this side of Heaven.

I have long been a huge fan of Francis’s approach Barb, and couldn’t agree with you more on this. I have been blessed a few times to have someone tell me how something I said or did, without my having a clue, had made a difference to them. Hopefully there are others about whom I won’t know until I have managed to slip under the fence into heaven.

I am equally sure though that I have been on the other end that you describe, and have been anything but the “face of God” to those around me. I can only hope that when the time comes that those I hurt at those times will be able to look on me with love as Jesus looked on Peter after his denials.

A beautiful testimony Barb. I continue to learn so much from you.

 

[ncjohn]

This morning’s gospel, to me, offered another insight on this topic.
Luke's Gospel:

Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Change is difficult and we are very prone to wanting to stick with the wine we’ve been drinking, figuring it is better than any new wine that might come along. Doubting that there could be a better wine.

The Word Among Us had this to say in part of its reflection

Today, Jesus is asking us to open our eyes and open our ears so that we can both receive the “new wine” of the Spirit and hold on to it (Luke 5:37). In him, something new has begun, and the old vessels cannot contain all of it. The only way we can embrace this new covenant—the only way that this covenant can change us for the better—is if we admit that we need a new heart.

Admitting that we need a new heart and that our old one just ain’t good enough is a daunting thing to even consider. But if we don’t do it, the old skin will just burst and the new wine that is the love of God will be spilled out on the ground.

It’s hard to chip out a stony heart. God seems to be the only one with the chisel, but we have to be willing to let Him use it.