• About The Sophia Center

The Sophia Center for Spirituality

~ Spanning the denominations in NY's Southern Tier

The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Tag Archives: Simon

A Ride on the Lake

06 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

courage, Jesus, Luke, risk, Simon, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

ajesusfishnet4There is so much to ponder in Luke’s version of the call of the first disciples.  (LK 5:1-11) One might first think of Jesus as rather presumptuous. There were two boats by the lake whose owners were washing their nets after a night of fishing when Jesus steps into the one belonging to Simon and asks him to put out a bit from shore – a better vantage point from which to teach the crowds that were pressing in on him. Simon says nothing about being tired or disappointed that they hadn’t caught anything; he just does what Jesus asks. The encounter gets more challenging, however, when Jesus finishes his teaching and says to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” At that Simon has to speak (“We’ve worked hard all night and have caught nothing.”), but it seems that his heart is already softened to Jesus. (“…but at your command I will lower the nets.”) We all know the end of the story: so great a catch of fish that the nets are tearing and Simon’s regret that he had even hesitated before acquiescing to the request of Jesus. (“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”)

Clearly, the point of this story was not about fish but rather about the work of those who willingly “left everything and followed him” as a result of the fishing expedition. Sometimes a lazy boat ride on a placid lake can be a very peaceful and meaningful experience. At other times, however, we may need to be courageous enough to set out into deep waters in order to understand the depth of our call to serve. It’s a risk, as we know from later gospel stories, but we’ll never know the final reward unless we start rowing.

 

 

 

 

 

A Fitting Name

28 Saturday Oct 2017

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

birthday, Ephesians, generosity, Jesus, Jude, patron saints, praise God, Simon, sister, sisters, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

asistersToday our Church remembers Simon and Jude, both apostles who are only known by their names or titles. Jude (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot) is mentioned in the gospel with the others chosen by Jesus as his close followers. Simon, known as the Zealot, was one of a sect of extreme Jewish nationalists who believed in the Old Testament concept that God alone was their king so that they were not to be subject to the Romans. Simon was converted by Jesus to a new and gentler way of living, it seems, but that is all we know of him. I didn’t know of him at all in my youth. As far as I knew October 28th was the feast of St. Jude alone, and I knew that much because it was – is – my sister’s birthday. By custom (way back then) she might have been named Judith but circumstances and the fact that we already had a close cousin with that name resulted in the fact that she is Paula.

Patron saints were a big deal in those days and I was proud to have Ann as my middle name so I could call the grandmother of Jesus my patron. I would have felt sorry for Paula if Jude was hers since Jude is the designated patron of those in “desperate situations” (http://www.franciscanmedia.org) We used to know that as “hopeless cases” and actually kidded my sister about that around her birthday on occasion.

I felt a lift this morning when I consulted the lectionary readings for the day. In contrast to some of the recent texts that seemed so serious and dark, today’s are filled with energy and motivation in the spirit of St. Paul. First, Paul announces to the Ephesians: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God! (EPH 2:19) Then we hear the psalmist sing: Through all the earth their voice resounds, and to the end of the world, their message – a tribute to the work of Paul and the other early voices as well as creation itself (PS 19:5). Finally, the gospel reminds us of those called by Jesus as his first disciples (LK 6: 12-16) among whom we find Simon and Jude.

I was happy to hear these words – a birthday gift to my sister who has been in her life one who has always labored for the good of the whole, in both personal and professional relationships. Steadiness and generosity of self have clearly defined Paula’s life and blessed all of us who live within her sphere of influence. So today I honor my elder sister (my one and only!) and give praise to God for her life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fill in the Blanks

01 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Calcutta, canonization, catching people, disciples, follow, James, Jesus, John, Luke, Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa, openness, poor, Simon, Sisters of Loretto, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

amotherteresa

One of the most difficult things sometimes about reading the gospels, I think, is not what they say but what they don’t say. Today’s lectionary tells Luke’s story of Simon and his companion fishermen, James and John. It’s a familiar story (LK 5:1-11) where Jesus gets into one of their boats as they are washing their nets after a dismal night of catching nothing. Jesus is teaching from the boat (probably to get a little distance from the gathering crowd) and when he finishes, turns to Simon and tells him to “go deep” and start fishing all over again. Simon must have already had some experience of Jesus, first because he doesn’t seem fazed by Jesus just getting into his boat and asking him to go out a short distance from shore to teach the people. His response to the request to start fishing again was similarly instructive. Although he did register the complaint about having fished all night with no positive result, he acquiesces to the directive by saying, “…but at your command I will lower the nets.” The result is, of course, almost more fish than the nets can accommodate.

I’m most interested in the last line of today’s text, however. After Jesus assures them that they have a future in the trade of “catching” people instead of fish, Luke finishes the story with this conclusion: When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. That’s it. No follow-up instructions. No conversation with their families. No packing or making arrangements for travel…Nothing but response. The next paragraph in Luke’s gospel is about the cure of lepers. We never get to hear the conversation between Simon (Peter) and his wife about this conversion experience – or about anything for that matter.

(Blessed) Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be canonized a saint this weekend with a huge ceremony in Rome. Her autobiography records her desire to enter the religious life from an early age to become a missionary, so she was already on a spiritual path, but her life, like those fishermen, took a very radical turn one day from being a teacher and principal of a school as a member of a traditional religious life in the congregation of the Sisters of Loreto. Already disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta where she was teaching, she was on the train on her way to her annual retreat when she received what she named “the call within the call.” She describes it as follows: ” I was to leave the convent and help the poor by living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith.” That was in September of 1946. We can now read of the struggles she faced between that day and the beginning in 1948 of the work of her new congregation, the Missionaries of Charity. Her life has been chronicled by many, but on that day, I wonder if she had any idea of what lay ahead as she promised, in addition to the traditional religious vows, “wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor.”

Change comes to all of us, bidden or unbidden, slowly or “just like that” – in an instant by some cataclysmic event. Sometimes we long to know how others have negotiated such change so that we might know what to do should it happen that way to us. Since everyone’s path is personal, however, we can only learn to walk it by walking. Openness to what God asks each and every day is probably the best preparation for what comes next, living in the present moment is all we have and the only “place” we are called to inhabit. So with an open heart and a listening ear, let us go forward into this moment…and then the next.

 

Are You Listening?

18 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

agency, Andrew, Eli, Here I am Lord, John the Baptist, Lamb of God, looking, Peter, Psalm 40, readiness, Samuel, Simon, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

hereiamAlthough the readings in the early days of this new year often center around the theme of call, there is a fair amount of diversity in the specifics – and, on Sundays, emphasis from the Hebrew Scriptures as well. This morning we read one of my favorite texts from the First Book of Samuel (1 SAM 3) which could be performed as a short comedy sketch. Samuel is a child living in the temple under the tutelage of Eli when he hears God call his name in the night. This being his first such experience he thinks Eli is calling so he runs to him and says, “Here I am. You called me.” Eli, probably a bit groggy from sleep, says to him, “I didn’t call you. Go back to sleep.” This happens again, not once but twice and it is only the third time that Eli realizes that it is God calling Samuel.  He then directs Samuel that when he hears God calling he is to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

The move from Samuel to the Gospel of John is punctuated by Psalm 40 which fairly shouts: I have waited, waited for the Lord and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. He put a new song in my mouth! Then we see John the Baptist standing – as if waiting – with two of his disciples as Jesus walks by. He is recorded as saying, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Immediately the disciples leave John and follow Jesus. John does nothing to stop them as he knows that his role is herald. When Jesus turns around and sees them he asks, “What are you looking for?” They counter with the question: “Where are you staying?” “Come and you will see,” he says and, amazingly, they do. One is Andrew who goes and tells his brother, Simon, of the experience and brings him to Jesus as well.

Setting these scenes in such detail might seem a bit much but I think necessary to illustrate two things about call: readiness and agency. How ready are we at any moment to respond to God’s call in whatever form it comes to us? Secondly, are we willing to hear messages from others that may move us to such a response? Eli, John the Baptist, Jesus himself and then Andrew were instrumental in the movement of Samuel, Andrew and Peter toward God. Today seems a good day to reflect on our own readiness and then to thank God for those in our lives who have been catalysts on our path to “Here I am, Lord!”

A Snap Decision?

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Andrew, Bible, casting nets, Christianity, decision, fishermen, fishers of men, impulsive decision, Jesus, life's calling, Mark, Ordinary Time, Simon, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Zebedee

fishersofmenToday is the first day of the first week of what some Christian Churches call “Ordinary Time” – which might be construed as what the world is like after all the Christmas hubbub is over and the best of the merchandise is gone from the stores. Actually though, it is really nothing like that unless we look at the baptism of Jesus which we celebrated yesterday as an end rather than a beginning. “Ordinary” in Church-speak doesn’t mean the opposite of extraordinary. It comes from a Latin word, ordinalis, which refers to numbers in a series and from which we get the word order, thus indicating the ordered life of the Church between the major seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. It might be akin to “It’s three weeks till school is out for the summer” but doesn’t mean that there won’t be great things learned in the interim.

Today then, we begin with chapter one of the Gospel of Mark which tells us that John the Baptist has been arrested (a story for another day) and Jesus has begun walking about preaching. It’s often frustrating that the gospels aren’t more forthcoming with details about the events. Today, for example, has this news.

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,, he saw Simon and his brother, Andrew, casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followed him. He walked on a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him. (MK1:16-20)

Doesn’t it make you wonder if there was any conversation in between the summons of Jesus and the responses of the fishermen? I know it wouldn’t be very economical to have all the detail (the Bible is already a very big book!) and the stories were not written down until much later, Mark’s being the first gospel that didn’t appear until sometime in the 50’s or 60’s. I wonder, though, about what appears to be an impulsive decision. I have many questions. Had they heard about Jesus before they saw him? Were they unhappy as fishermen – some of whom at least – and probably all – in the family business? What did Zebedee think about all this?? How old were they anyway? Was the presence of Jesus so compelling that it was impossible for them to refuse? Didn’t they ask him any questions about what “fishers of men” might mean?

You get my point, I’m sure. Unfortunately, we don’t have more to go on from the text. Theologians have written much through the history of Christianity about the events that we find in the gospels as well as the meaning of the words that actually appear. We can only know so much of the truth of this scenario, but we would do well, I think, to reflect on our own history of response to Christ’s invitations in our life. I know that when I entered the convent at 18 years of age, I had a strong desire to give my life to God but I had little understanding (regardless of how sure I felt) of what would be called for as I lived the life. I think this is true of most people, even if not circumstantially the same. Those who “go into the family business” might have a clearer idea at the start but the world continues to change at such a rapid pace that there is little clarity about the future these days. The evidence of the gospels tells us that most of those chosen in those early days as the closest followers of Jesus – the ones who are named anyway – failed him occasionally along the way but were able to forgive themselves and be forgiven so as to remain faithful to their commitment to the end of their lives. And I’m sure they understood then what that meant in a way that they could not even have imagined that day on the beach.


Risky Business

04 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by thesophiacenterforspirituality in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cast your nets, disciples, fishermen, Jesus, Luke, miracles, Peter, risk taking, Simon, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

jesusfishermenThe gospel story this morning is about fishing and unreasonable requests (LK 5: 1-11). There’s Jesus who has obviously been doing his itinerant teaching for awhile because the crowd is “pressing in on him” as he is speaking near the lake of Gennesaret. There are the fishermen, Simon and his partners, James and John, who have been fishing all night without catching anything; they’re busy washing their nets – and probably very tired. The first request of Jesus seems a little inconsiderate if he knew anything about what kind of night the fishermen had just had; he just gets in to the boat and asks Simon to put out a little from shore where he proceeds to continue his teaching. There’s no dialogue about that request. When the teaching is over, however, Jesus gets what seems to Simon (and probably every fisherman on the shore) somewhat more unreasonable when he tells him to go deeper and lower the nets for a catch. In the gospel Simon just reminds Jesus that they’ve been out there all night having caught nothing but then acquiesces saying, “…but at your command, I will lower the nets.” I think it was probably rather more like the words of a song I know describing this situation where they’re asked to cast their nets to the other side and “with nothing short of astonishment, say “Lord, don’t you think we’ve tried?!” Whatever the response – and whether from fatigue or a sense of what crowds have been saying about Jesus or just to show Jesus the futility of his request, Simon does it and the nets are so full of fish that he has to call for help to pull them up.

Jesus uses this miracle as a lead-in to the call of Simon, the one who becomes Peter, the Rock. He says, “From now on, you will be catching men.” (and women and children…) He tells him not to be afraid of miracles – and presumably all the other challenges he and his colleagues will encounter. Good advice, as on that morning fishing had become a risky business.

Sometimes we come up against seemingly unreasonable directives that (unbeknownst to us) hold great rewards if only we can take the risk to go deeper than we have ever gone in carrying out the requests. I’m hoping, with all the young risk takers who have returned to school this week, to be brave enough to cast a wider net this time – maybe even jump out of the boat with Peter…but that’s another story for another day.

Donate to The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Donate

Our other websites

  • Main website
  • Facebook page

Visitors

  • 96,753 hits

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,044 other followers

Recent Posts

  • The “O Antiphon” Meditations
  • Memorial to be held this Sunday
  • Mark your calendars
  • A note to readers
  • “Hope Springs Eternal…”

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Archives

  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • The Sophia Center for Spirituality
    • Join 1,044 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Sophia Center for Spirituality
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...