God's call - and he calls us all - is in the first place a divine initiative, but it demands human correspondence: You did not choose me, but I chose you10. And perhaps we find that we are not worthy of being so close to Christ, or that we lack the conditions to be instruments of grace. This is the situation of every man who finds, in the depths of his soul, a strong and compelling call from God. Thus the Prophet Isaiah, as we read in the First Reading of the Mass11 , when he experienced the nearness of God's majesty, exclaimed: "Woe is me, I am lost! I, a man of unclean lips, dwelling among a people of unclean lips, have seen with my eyes the King and Lord of Hosts. But God knows of our poverty and, as he purified Isaiah and so many men and women whom he has called to his service, he will cleanse our lips and our hearts. And one of the seraphim flew to me, with an ember in his hand... and he applied it to my mouth and said to me: Look: this has touched your lips, your guilt has disappeared, your sin is forgiven. He forgives us in Confession, and we purify ourselves principally through penance.
And they," the Gospel continues, "taking their boats to land, and leaving all things behind, they followed him. After having contemplated Christ, they no longer had much to think about
Ordinarily, the firm decisions that transform a life are not the fruit of many calculations. From that moment on, Peter's life would have a formidable objective: to love Christ and to be a fisher of men. Everything else in his life would be a means and an instrument to that end. "Even for us, if we strive daily to attain holiness, each one in his own state in the world and in the exercise of his profession, in our ordinary life, I dare to assure you that the Lord will make us instruments capable of working miracles and, if necessary, the most extraordinary ones "12.
The Lord also addresses himself to each one of us so that we may feel urged to follow him closely as faithful disciples in the midst of our tasks, and to carry out in our own environment a daring apostolic work, full of faith in the word of Jesus: "Duc in altum. -Sea in altum! -Reject the pessimism that makes you a coward. "Et laxate retia vestra in capturam" -and cast your nets to fish.
"Don't you see that you can say, like Peter: "in nomine tuo, laxabo rete" -Jesus, in your name, I will search for souls? "
Contemplating the figure of Peter, we too can say to Jesus: Depart from me, Lord, for I am a poor sinner. And at the same time we pray to him that we may never separate ourselves from him, that he may help us to enter deeply into his friendship, into holiness, into an open apostolate, without human respect, full of faith, because in our personal prayer we can hear the voice of the Lord, who encourages us and urges us to bring souls to him. "And, without you finding reasons, because of your poor misery, those around you will come to you, and with a natural, simple conversation - at the exit from work, at a family gathering, on the bus, on a walk, anywhere - you will chat about concerns that are in the soul of everyone, even if at times some do not want to realize it: they will understand them more and more, when they begin to truly seek God.
"Ask Mary, Regina Apostolorum, that you may decide to share in the desires of sowing and fishing that beat in the Heart of her Son. I assure you that, if you begin, you will see, like the fishermen of Galilee, the boat full. And Christ on the shore, waiting for you. For the catch is his "
Hablar con Dios