Preparatory Prayer:
"Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens and Thy glory over all the earth." Psalm 107.
Setting:
Jesus, walking along the shore of the sea of Galilee, saw Simon and his brother Andrew, two fishermen, casting their net into the sea. They both turned their head to look in His direction and they caught His gaze fixed upon them intently. Quite quietly He issued an invitation that would call for a momentous decision in their lives. "Come," He says, "after Me and I will make you to be fishers of men." There was some irresistible power, it would seem, in those words and the tone of authority and love with which they were spoken. The net fell out of the men's hands and, just as they were, in their old fishing clothes, probably dripping with the water of the lake, without a moment's delay or hesitation, they left all things to follow Him. They saw only His beckoning finger and cared not where it would direct them to go. He had spoken and nothing else mattered. That same finger beckons me to come to prayer this morning; further, in my particular sphere of life, to be another fisher of men.
Fruit:
Zeal for souls that will not falter when there is apparent failure in my efforts.
All of us, I suppose, know enough about fishing to understand that it demands an almost limitless fund of patience. You will sometimes meet a fisherman returning after a day with the rod, but you will wisely refrain from asking how he fared. You remember St. Peter's experience, that after much labor there was nothing at all to show, and you suspect the same is true in his case. But there is a fascination in fishing nonetheless, and early next morning you find your angler friend starting off again with renewed energy, nothing daunted by his failure of the previous day.
So when Our Lord describes His apostles as fishers of men, He would seem to insinuate that they must be possessed of immense patience to succeed. The task before the apostle calls for patience, first of all because it may be slow in showing any tangible results. All effort, apparently, is useless, and only the patient man or woman will stick at the task in face of failure.
Two girls, members of the Legion of Mary, visited the house of a man who was well known as a character of evil life. It is understatement to say that their reception was not civil. In fact, he was in a storm of a temper, ordered them to leave his house, mind their own business, and never dare to come again. But he was confined to his bed, so, next night, they tried again, brought him tobacco and he softened a little. For six months those two girls kept coming, using now one bait and now another, but the fish would not bite!
They did not stop short at visiting him and talking to him and bringing him little gifts. Every night, for six consecutive months, those two splendid girls made a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament for his conversion. And they were rewarded. He asked for a priest, made a good Confession, received Holy Communion, and a few weeks later died a most edifying death. It took patience; fishers of men must be patient if the results are slow in coming.
For seventeen years St. Monica stormed heaven for the soul of her son, Augustine. She refused to give up, despite the apathy he showed towards the work of his eternal salvation; and ultimately Augustine abandoned his vicious way of living, became priest and bishop and, in his turn, a fisher of men, whose nets must have often seemed about to break for the multitude of fish that they enclosed.
A famous artist would spend many weeks, sometimes whole months, putting the finishing touches on a picture. To the casual observer this seemed quite unnecessary, but the artist would explain: "Aeternitatem pingo. I am painting an eternity. I intend my work to endure when the work and the names of smaller men are all forgotten." Now, the work of the fisher of men is, indeed, weighted with issues that are of enduring importance. To help a soul Godwards, to lift or even inspire with new courage a soul steeped in sin, to be the instrument to embolden a soul that is merely good to climb even a little higher towards the mountain peaks and get even a little nearer the saints - this indeed is a divine work, a task that is worth years of prayer and penance and effort.
Jesus, You have deigned to call me to this apostolate; whether I am a priest or a religious or a lay person, I am well aware that You intend me to be my brother's keeper. It is in the spirit of our age to look for quick returns, immediate results. Give me the patience, Lord, born of an understanding of the value of my apostolate, the patience that will persevere in trying, how slow soever be the apparent fruit of all my efforts. "Aeternitatem pingo."