Stop Doing the Work of Renewal
I love it when the Gospels don’t make sense.
Whenever that happens (and I can overcome my misguided frustration), it helps me understand how the disciples felt.
Because they were frequently confused.
To be confused in reading the Gospels is simply to experience Jesus the same way His disciples did.
That truth became even more apparent as I spent time praying at the Sea of Galilee and centered my thoughts upon the miraculous catch of fish. For many years my prayers with that passage focused on Simon’s acknowledgment of his sinfulness, the subsequent call of Jesus, and how all of that relates to my personal vocational journey.
Yet as I sat beside the Sea of Galilee and the sounds of the waves drew me deeper into that important event, a different aspect of the passage revealed itself.
Getting Fishing Wrong
We read in the Gospel of Luke 5:1-11:
While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."
And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
It was years of praying with this passage before I discovered a holy confusion as to why they would be fishing at night.
As I learned by talking to modern-day fishermen at the Sea of Galilee, nighttime fishing is a common practice that continues to this day. During the day, the fish descend deeper into the waters to avoid U.V. light that can be particularly intense in this part of the world. Once the sun sets, those same fish rise to the surface to find their daily food. While it is not unheard of to discover fish during the day, the most abundant and valuable catches only occur while the rest of us are asleep. On the Sea of Galilee, a smart fisherman fishes at night.
The cause of Simon’s exasperation - "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” - doesn’t reside solely in the frustration of hours of work producing no success. Instead, it is as if Simon is saying, “We already tried to catch fish when we know it’s possible, during the night. Now you want us to try during the day when we know it never works?!”
We would excuse Simon if he thought, “Who is this son of a carpenter trying to tell me how to fish? I know how to do it, he doesn't!”
Simon tried to do the work of a fisherman and he was unsuccessful. He knew the theory; he knew the tricks; he knew what worked for him in the past. Yet, in the end, all of his expert knowledge failed him.
When he shifted his focus from his understanding of how it should work to obedience to the will of Jesus, Simon found success far beyond human ability.
That is why, if we are to learn a lesson from that fisherman turned fisher of men, we must - right now! - stop trying to do the work of renewal.
Getting Renewal Wrong
During my priesthood, I’ve experienced the call to renewal in various ways. To the best of my abilities, I’ve tried to be faithful to that call.
Yet the further along I get, the more strongly I realize that Catholics need to stop trying to do the work of renewal and instead focus on doing the will of the Father.
Until we are uncompromising in pursuing God’s will alone, the work of renewal risks becoming a human endeavor rather than a divine one. In that case, what has the appearance of renewal will remain an illusion, and nobody’s life is transformed by an illusion.
Shifting our focus away from doing the work of renewal doesn’t mean we ignore the leadership and organization principles that have taken up a central space in renewal conversations. Yet those must remain tools at our disposal to only take out if and when the Holy Spirit prompts us.
The question isn’t: Is this what God wants?
The question is: What does God want us to do?
For those like myself who look at the state of our beloved Catholic Church and have a painful, zealous longing for renewal, we need not fear stopping the work of renewal if we singleheartedly commit ourselves to obedience to God’s will - God’s will is always renewing! Not only is He the only One who can bring about renewal, but He longs for it so much that He was willing to pay for it with His very life!
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. - 2 Cor 5:17
The passing foolishness of human renewal in contrast to the renewing will of the Father is the difference between Simon’s way of fishing and Jesus’ seemingly illogical method. Yes, sometimes it may force us into doing something futile like fishing during the day. But I suspect Simon didn’t object to the abundance of fish just because it didn’t make sense.
It is an examination of conscience for myself - and I daresay all who focus on parish renewal - to ask whether we are doing the work of renewal, or being obedient to the renewing will of God.