Feb
7
Written by:
Fr. Gary Zerr
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Having a Fruitful Life
Pastor’s Column
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 7, 2010
Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets for a catch.
Luke 5:5
The disciples certainly must have been good fishermen, or they could not have earned a living doing it, but have you ever noticed that they never seem to catch any fish in the gospels? Left to themselves, the disciples have worked all night without success, but at a word from Jesus, everything changes.
Most of us would consider our lives to be the most fruitful when we are actively doing something, but what happens when we get sick? When my back went out last week, I was forced to spend several “unproductive” days on the couch! All I could do was read and take pain pills. In what way was this fruitful?
Our lives bear fruit when what we do (or don’t do) is united with the will of God. Those of you who suffer from a lower-back injury know how little you can do when your back gives out. We take a lot for granted when we are well! Yet I knew this inconvenient situation was the will of God because the infirmity was unavoidable. When we are detained or delayed by something or someone, or incapacitated by an illness we cannot get away from, our priorities can change radically. At such moments we cannot simply define fruitfulness as something that we do or produce. Rather, we bear fruit every time we accept the will of God wholeheartedly.
Most of us have ordinary lives that alternate between times when things go according to plan and when they don’t; between when we are ill and well; working or resting; busy or bored. But the will of God can be found in all of these things. For example, it was necessary for the disciples to experience a night of “catching nothing.” It must have been a long wait. But they were ready for a miracle when Jesus comes along. They were made ready by their time of waiting and catching nothing. You might say their later fruitfulness necessitated a period of “catching nothing.”
In order to bear fruit for God, we must allow for “down time,” such as a time of prayer, Mass, and scripture reading. These periods of time, which we may be tempted to think are unproductive, are in fact essential to the success of our lives in Christ. Christ loves us first for who we are, not just what we do. Down times, whether planned or unplanned, are often expressions of the will of God for us. Here, God gets a chance to reorder our priorities, speak to our hearts, teach us through the word, and purify us through suffering. Like the disciples, such “down times” can turn out to be very fruitful indeed!
Father Gary