By Metropolitan Panteleimon of Antinoes
In today’s Gospel reading St. Peter with
the rest of the holy Apostles were astonished at the catch of fish
which they had caught. Christ our Lord had sat in St. Peter’s boat and
was teaching the people. The Disciples had worked very hard all night
long, but they had caught nothing. St. Peter at the commandment of
Christ let down the net and then God’s blessings came, for “they caught a
great number of fish” (Luke 5:6).
Obedience to God’s Will is man’s first
and foremost duty. Second most important is to carry out His Divine
Commandments. The godly man strives to conform himself to whatever God
wishes. Man through obedience to God identifies himself with God, and
his will with God’s Divine Will.
The holy Apostle Peter at the greatest
moment of his difficult hours of disappointment and depression, showed
obedience to Christ. The result is obvious. God blesses the work of all
those who struggle with honesty.
In our daily struggle to survive there
are some moments, when we feel let down. Many times despair and
dissolution overcome our hearts, when we hope for some things that do
not come right.
How many times do we turn to God and not
see any results? Did God not hear our prayers? Is He relaxing in His
Heavenly Kingdom and does not care for us? No! The answer to these
questions lie in that we must not only turn to God, but we must also
learn to trust God.
St. Peter not only accepted Christ in
his fishing boat, but also showed absolute obedience to His commandment.
Without a second discussion he threw the nets into the shallow waters
of Gennesaret. Because of his obedience God blessed his work.
Now, how many times does it happen in
our life that we accept Christ not in our boat, but in our hearts, but
we are not obedient to Him? How many times do we say that we believe in
the Lord, but, yet, we have not made the effort to bow and humble
ourselves before Him? How many times do we pray to God, but within our
hearts we do not learn to trust Him? How many times do we find ourselves
in difficult situations and we ask for God’s help and assistance, but
in reality we do not believe in His Providence? How many times do we
believe that God will interfere, like magic, to fulfil our wishes?
Finally, how many times, when we see no results of Divine intervention,
we turn away from God?
St. Peter was blessed, because he showed
obedience to Christ. God’s blessings came as the result of Peter’s
obedience to His Will. The miracle at Gennesaret came about because of
St. Peter’s faithfulness. St. Peter knew very well, being an experienced
fisherman, that there could be no fish in the shallow waters of
Gennesaret. All night long he worked with his collaborafors and, yet,
they caught nothing. But, he showed obedience to Christ’s word and he
let down the nets. For Christ’s sake he did not hesitate. He did not
say, that ‘We are wasting our time’. He just obeyed and trusted Christ’s
word.
We all work hard. We all run here and there and we struggle to build up
our businesses. Some even work after hours even at night. We all strive
for our daily bread. But, how many times do we lack success? One works
for so many years and puts in his work so much time and money, but at
the end he sees everything collapsing. What is the reason? Is it because
there is lack of cleverness? Is it because of lack of interest or
concern for one’s work? Is it because of evil men sabotaging the work of
others? All these reasons are possible. But, the main reason is the
lack of true faith and trust in God.
In our times, man has learned not to
trust God or anyone else, but only himself. We have not surrendered
ourselves completely to God’s Divine Providence or we lack of true
faith. This is one of the main reason why many Christians do not come
every Sunday to Church.
Lack of faith is the spiritual illness
of today’s society. Lack of faith has as its result that we do not pray
every day or even if we do so, then our hearts are not turned to God,
but wonder here and there. Lack of faith is the reason why we do not
obey God’s Commandments and we do not trust ourselves in His Will. Lack
of faith is the reason why man does not believe in God and His
Teachings. Lack of faith is the reason why man turns to evil deeds and
is disobedient to God’s Word.
If we wish to have God’s blessings in
our homes, our works and our lives, then we have to turn to Him, bow
before Him and trust ourselves to His Divine Providence. Let us imitate
St. Peter’s example. Let us show trust and faith in Christ, our Lord and
Savior. Let us practice God’s Commandments. Let us be obedient to His
Divine Will. This way of life will bring upon us God’s blessings. This
is the way for our salvation, to be before God and surrender ourselves
to Him.
