Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 17, 2021
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that they were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
A priest friend once joked that perhaps Catholics would have to give up fish for Fridays in Lent if the apostles had been ranchers. Lent is good business for the fishermen.
This miraculous catch of fish in today’s gospel reading is significant for the vocation of these disciples. All their lives, they toiled day after day to catch enough fish to make ends meet. In this passage, Jesus uses their boats not for fishing but to proclaim the Good News. Then, he tells the fishermen to lower their nets for a catch. The resulting catch is so astonishing that the boats are sinking because of all the fish they are pulling up. Finally, they have struck it rich! But the even more miraculous development in this story is that the fishermen walk away from their great catch without claiming it or selling it. Once they recognize the identity of the Messiah, their vocation is fundamentally changed. They leave behind their literal catch of fish so that they can become figurative fishers of men. They left everything behind.
A saint in the Catholic tradition who embodies this same obedience is today’s saint, Patrick. In his mission to evangelize Ireland, he had no idea if he would be successful. But, because of his persistence, diligence, and holiness, he gained a huge following and converted to the Christian faith people from the entire island. It is thanks to him that Ireland was a source of many monasteries and saints through the ages. His nets of evangelization brought forth a great catch of believers.
As an Irish American with the name Patrick, this feast day is especially meaningful to me. It goes beyond shamrocks, corned beef, and pints of green beer; it relates to my (and our) fundamental call (like Saint Patrick), to evangelize souls for Christ. Patrick had the courage to do this. Do I? Do we?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, you have given us all that is good. You constantly call us to put out into the deep in service to you and to one another. Give us the courage to listen to your commands, and to be fearless in our baptismal call to holiness. Help us to find ways to serve rather than to be served, even if those ways may be small or unseen by others. May we be faithful in our vocations to do your will rather than our own, and make you known, loved, and served. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Patrick is one of the Catholic Church’s most famous saints. His story is one of deep personal faithfulness, which led him to the edge of the known world where he evangelized the whole of Ireland.
Patrick was born in 389 to parents who were Roman officials helping to govern far-flung colonies of the Roman empire in the British Isles. He was kidnapped when he was a teenager and sold as a slave to a chieftain in Ireland, where he tended sheep. He would spend his days in the mountains, and he came to rely on God through prayer.
He would even stay late in the wilderness to continue his prayer. “Constantly I used to pray in the daytime. Love of God … increased more and more, and my faith grew and my spirit was stirred up,” he wrote. “I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."
After six years of servitude, he heard voices in a dream that told him to prepare for a difficult journey. He took the dream as a sign and ran away from his captors, covering 200 miles to reach the coast of Ireland. There, he joined a ship that was headed for the European mainland.
The ship reached land in a desolate place and Patrick and the sailors wandered for months, looking for civilization. At one point, they ran out of provisions and were on the brink of starvation. The sailors ridiculed Patrick for being a Christian who believed in a loving God, who apparently was allowing him to die of starvation.
“Turn in good faith and with all your heart to the Lord my God, to whom nothing is impossible,” Patrick replied, “that this day God may send you food in your journey until you are satisfied, for God has abundance everywhere.” A herd of pigs suddenly appeared and the party had more than enough to eat.
They finally reached safety, and Patrick was eventually reunited with his family. They were overjoyed at his return and tried to make him promise to stay with them. Patrick was touched by the people he had come to know in Ireland, however, and voices returned to his dreams, telling him, “We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more.”
Patrick resolved to follow this call and left home. He first studied at several monasteries and was ordained a priest, and then a bishop, before being sent as a missionary to Ireland because of his knowledge of the language and customs of the people there.
As he began his ministry in Ireland, Patrick returned to the mountain on which he used to pray as a young shepherd, where he fasted and prayed for 40 days. There he had a vision of the vast multitude of holy people that this land would produce, thanks to his efforts, and this vision gave him consolation and strength to face the many difficulties and challenges ahead.
In Ireland, Patrick made his way among the different clans and kingdoms, confronting paganism. He asked the leaders of Ireland to come together at Tara, the ancient seat of power on the island. There, he preached the Gospel and overcame the signs and magic of the druid pagan priests with the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Historical records confirm that some agreement was made there that allowed Patrick to continue his preaching.
The high king of Ireland was not converted, but members of his household were, which afforded Patrick some protection. Still, he faced much opposition and many threats to his life.
“Daily I expect either a violent death or to be robbed and reduced to slavery or the occurrence of some such calamity,” he wrote. “I have cast myself into the hands of the almighty God, for God rules everything. As the prophet says, ‘Cast your care upon the Lord, and God will sustain you.’”
At one point, his chariot driver, St. Odran, was assassinated by a spear intended for Patrick.
Thanks to Patrick’s evangelization the Gospel spread through Ireland rapidly. He overthrew local idols and built churches on those spots, and he gathered many followers and helpers around him. In 444, a cathedral was erected in Armagh, and that became a center of learning and the primary place of leadership for the Church in Ireland.
People who came into contact with Patrick had a deep impression that he cared for them and loved God intensely. In about 30 years, Patrick converted the whole of Ireland to Christianity, baptizing and confirming thousands. Ireland became known as the “land of the saints” and its monasteries saved much of Europe’s learning during the Dark Ages—all thanks to Patrick.
Patrick died on this date and was buried where he built his first church in Ireland. Our featured image today shows him depicted in stained glass in the special collections reading room in the Hesburgh Library. The other stained glass window and statue are from Dillon Hall. St. Patrick’s relics rest in the reliquary chapel.
St. Patrick, apostle of Ireland—pray for us!
Personalize and share prayers to St. Patrick with three digital prayer card options. Find them on FaithND at this link.