by Father Alonzo Cox
Just a few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit one of our Catholic schools for Catholic Schools Week. It has always been a great experience for me to spend some time with our schoolchildren and their teachers. One of the highlights of these visits is the question-and-answer time the students would have with the priest.
Over the almost 15 years of my priesthood, I have been asked several questions from students on a variety of subjects. Many of them have been lighthearted and funny. On this one visit, a student asked me a question that I had
never been asked before. She asked, “Father, what does it feel like to not be in a relationship?” I, of course, knew
where she was coming from, given that I am not married, but it was the phrase of the question that really got me. It stuck with me throughout the day, and I reflected upon it in prayer.
It came to me that I was, in fact, in a relationship. From the moment of my baptism, I began a relationship with Jesus Christ. That relationship continues to grow and flourish as I continue to grow as his witness on earth. We are all called to be in a relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Today’s Gospel is a beautiful reflection on the beginning of the relationship Simon, James, and John will have with Jesus. We know that relationships are meant to be transformative.
We see very clearly how Jesus radically changes the lives of these fishermen. In our Gospel passage today, Simon, James, and John encounter Jesus through their work as fishermen. It was clear that they were having a tough day, attempting to carry out their work as fishermen. They were not able to catch any fish. Simon himself tells the Lord that they had worked tirelessly throughout the day to catch fish. But the Lord calls him to go deeper into the water. It is once the Lord calls Simon to go deeper into the water that he is able to catch an abundant number of fish.
The Lord challenges us each day to go deeper into the water. He wants us to grow deeper in love with him so that
we may bring his love to others. In a special way, Jesus wants to transform our lives. We want to share the good news of Jesus Christ with all our brothers and sisters so that their lives may be transformed by it. It is at the tremendous catch of fish that Simon, James, and John fall to their knees in homage, proclaiming their unworthiness.
We hear in today’s second reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians how the Lord radically transformed his life. Just as Paul received the good news of Jesus Christ and was called to proclaim it to the nations, we, too, must be proclaimers of the word in how we live our lives. None of us are ever worthy of this call. We acknowledge that at Mass before we receive the Eucharist by uttering the words of the centurion, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.”
Our relationship with the Lord must always be rooted in prayer. As in any relationship, we must communicate with the other. Jesus calls us by name every day. Do we hear his voice, or are we distracted by the sounds of this world? Are we distracted by our own “unworthiness”? Even through our sins, faults, and failures, Jesus continues to touch
our hearts so that we may love others in the same way that he loves us. We are all poor sinners, trying our best every day to get ourselves to heaven.
Just as Jesus challenges the three fishermen to go deeper into the water for a catch, he calls us to fall deeper in
love with him. May our relationship with the Lord grow as he leads us to the eternal kingdom of heaven.
Readings for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 or
1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 11
Luke 5:1-11
Father Alonzo Cox is pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and coordinator for the Vicariate of Black Catholic Concerns for the Diocese of Brooklyn.