Just as if it were yesterday, Jesus calls us to cast our “nets” into a sea that seems empty but is full of “fish” to be “caught.” Jesus said to Peter, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Peter and his friends were experienced fishermen. They knew that if nothing had been caught all night, it was better not to try it the next day. But with doubt, they obeyed the words of Jesus and went fishing again. The fishing was very abundant. Peter fell to his knees and recognized that he was a sinner. Jesus did not turn him away, but called him to draw even closer, and invited him to share his mission: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be a fisher of men.”
Today Jesus comes to us. He sees us discouraged, and even overwhelmed by a world that seems to turn its back on everything that we consider and aspire to as good, worthy, and just to live our lives as brothers and sisters, in a world of peace amidst a society full of conflicts. A world of solidarity in a time increasingly divided by personal and corporate interests, in nationalisms that demand to harden geographical and cultural borders, in religious groups that affirm themselves by denying others, especially those who do not believe or behave like them.
So, how does one fish in this sea without fish, in the midst of so much darkness with so little light, amid so many voices, some fanatical and others focused on their little worlds? How do we launch our ancient networks of Christianity characterized by the values of the Gospel, deep thoughts, and solidarity in an increasingly empty sea?
As the philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky says in his book, ‘The Age of Emptiness’, we increasingly live in an “age of emptiness.” Today, we live in postmodern times, where what is not named in the mass media does not exist. A time where what does not make a profit is worth little, ceases to be of worth or is no longer worth anything, where the past doesn’t matter and the future matters less. What matters is the here and now. Of course, if there is no past, there is nothing to regret. And if the future doesn’t matter, why worry?
But Peter and his friends stopped believing in the empty sea. They believed in the One who can fill all the seas. They believed in the God of Israel, the God of their fathers, who opened a path of hope for them and a better future.
What about us? Are we going to stay with our arms crossed in the face of so much empty horizons, resigned to a society that seems more and more turned in on itself, and lost in its labyrinths of injustice and conflicts of class, gender, race, cultures, and styles of life? Or will we go out again into “deeper waters”: where the world shows its darkest face, where there is more loneliness, hopelessness, need, abandonment, poverty, marginalization, and exclusion?
The decision is in our hands. It is up to us to decide if we respond to the Lord’s call, and cast our nets of compassion, solidarity, and reconciliation; accepting people as they are, how they feel, how they suffer, and how they need us.
We are faced with the challenge of staying on the shore of the empty and superficial seas of this world, out of comfort, resignation, or lack of faith, or we go out to the deep sea. A sea that is not really empty. It is there that God wants to make us “fishers of men.”