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Thursday of the Twenty-second week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day
Saint Maximus of Turin (?-c.420), Bishop
Sermon 39, attrib.

"From now on you will be catching men"

When the Lord, seated in the boat, said to Peter : “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for the catch” he was advising him, less to throw out his fishing implements into deep water, than to cast his words of preaching into the depths of people’s hearts. Saint Paul penetrated this heart’s abyss when he cast out the words: “How great are the depths and the richness of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”… Just as the net brings back to the boat the fish it has caught in its folds, so faith leads to rest in its bosom all the people it has gathered together.

So as to make us understand that the Lord was talking about a spiritual fishing, Peter said: « Master, we have worked hard all night long without a catch, but at your word I will let down my nets »… This Word is the Lord our Savior… Since Peter let down his net according to the Word, he spreads his eloquence everywhere according to Christ. He handles nets woven according to his master’s instructions; he casts out in the name of the Lord words even more clear and efficacious than before to enable him to save, not irrational creatures but men.

“We have toiled all night and caught nothing. » Yes, Peter had indeed toiled all night…; when the Savior’s light shone out the darkness was dispersed and his faith allowed him to distinguish, in the depths of the water, what his eyes could not see. Peter had, as it were, suffered from night until the day that is Christ came to his rescue. This is what was said to the apostle Paul: “The night is far gone; the day is at hand” (Rm 13,12).