Launch into the Deep
After we become familiar with certain Gospel passages, it becomes easy to gloss over the details and miss profound lessons.
Consider the miraculous catch of fish:
And it came to pass, that when the multitudes pressed upon Him to hear the word of God, He stood by the lake of Genesareth, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And going into one of the ships that was Simon’s, He desired him to draw back a little from the land. And sitting He taught the multitudes out of the ship. Now when He had ceased to speak, He said to Simon: Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said to Him: Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing: but at Thy word, I will let down the net.
Luke 5:1-9
And when they had done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes, and their net broke. And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking. Which when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was wholly astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken.
Deal with fewer tantrums in 3 days (or less!)
Why do we listen?
Considered from a worldly viewpoint, this is a strange passage. Simon Peter had no logical reason to listen to Jesus. Why should the professional fisherman listen to the Son of a carpenter about how to fish?
The advice seemed bad on multiple accounts: the professional fisherman knew that it was easier to catch fish during the night. He had already been trying to catch fish all night long, yet he had caught nothing. And here was the carpenter’s Son telling him to let down his nets during the day. The professional fisherman also knew that the fishing in that lake was better in the shallow waters. Yet the carpenter’s Son was telling him to “Launch out into the deep”. The professional fisherman knew there was more to this carpenter’s Son that what met the eye.
What was Simon Peter’s reaction to this apparent foolishness? “Master . . . at Thy word, I will let down the net.” Simon Peter simply obeyed the Master in faith.
From Master to Lord
And when he was abundantly, astonishingly rewarded for this faith, Simon Peter exchanged his mindset from that of one held against his will to one who freely submits to another’s authority. He moved from considering Jesus to be his Master to recognizing Him as Lord.
Sometimes we are called to walk forward in faith, one step at a step. Sometimes we don’t fully know why we do what we do. Yet we like the end result, and the journey appeals to us in some way. So we move forward, learning as we go.
Simon Peter certainly didn’t have a clear vision of his own journey from fisherman to head of the Apostles to martyr. Neither do we have a clear vision of how our lives will look like at the end of our Catholic Montessori journey. We do know, though, that many others before us have had success in Catholic Montessori child raising. That example was what gave me the faith to start our family’s journey.
