Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2023

 

Fishers of Men – Homily for the 3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2023

 

In our Gospel today we see Jesus calling 4 fishermen, while they are fishing, to come and follow Him.  They leave their nets immediately and follow him and Jesus promises that from now on they will be fishers of men and women.

 

I would venture to say that in America today, no fallen away Catholic nor non-Catholic would feel comfortable approaching a Catholic priest as their first point of contact with the Catholic Church.  But many fallen away Catholics and non-Catholics do feel comfortable approaching you who are here today.

 

Just a couple of stories to illustrate this

First of all, a parishioner from Annunciation let me know this week that her hair dresser has been asking her questions about the Catholic Church, and the hair dresser asked this parishioner if the parishioner could get her a Catholic Bible.  This parishioner approached me about this, I was able to get the parishioner a Catholic Bible to give to her hair dresser.  The likelihood that the hairdresser would have approached a Catholic Priest for a Catholic Bible is almost zero.

 

Another example is just today I was talking with a Saint Paul’s Parishioner, and she was saying that her physical therapist told her that she has come to a couple of Masses.  The Saint Paul’s Parishioner said if you ever want to come to Mass with me, just let me know, and the physical therapist said thank you.

 

And then one final example, I was listening to Catholic Radio Saturday morning, and this formerly fallen away Catholic was being interviewed, and she shared that she had had divorces and abortions, and felt like God hated her, but someone invited her to Mass, and she heard something at that Mass that totally changed the trajectory of her life, and this person now works at a Catholic parish helping other couples through the annulment process.

 

There are at least 5 people who know that you are Catholic…and it may be up to you to say something to them encouraging that will start the process of them coming home to the Catholic Church.  Let us all pray for those 5 people tonight who we are called to go fish for and bring them home to Jesus and His Church!