THE WORD THIS WEEKEND

 The word at Catholic mass this weekend is 'fisher'.  A fisher is one who fishes.  I would usually say fisherman.  The Gospel talks about fishers.  

The scriptures are full of stories about shepherds tending their flocks, farmers planting their seed, grape  growers pruning their vines, and fishers catching fish in the seas.  This weekend we hear about the latter.  

Yes, the story in the Gospel is about men fishing - it was the livelihood of many of the Apostles of Jesus.  When Jesus was killed, they could have gone back to making money as they had before Jesus called them.  They did not!  They chose to be out of work -  they chose to give up everything.  

This weekend we hear that Jesus preached from the boat of Peter and his brother, Andrew to people on shore.  Not far away were the son's of Zebedee, the Apostles James and John.  After preaching, Jesus told them to go out further from shore and drop their nets for a catch.  Before Jesus came, they had fished all day and caught nothing.  Reluctantly, they did as Jesus told them.  They caught so many fish that both boats were nearly swamped.

Now comes the kicker.  The Gospel says, when they got to shore, they left their boats and all those fish and left with Jesus.  Those fish would have meant a huge amount of money for them.  Those fish were the big catch they had strived for all day - maybe weeks.  They left it all and followed Jesus.  

It's about priorities.  What is more important in your life than Jesus?  What is more important in this short life we live than the eternal life available to us.  Set your priorities.

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