17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Sunday 30th July 2017)
Fish out of water – (Matthew 13:44-52)
In the three images used by Our Blessed Lord in this Sunday’s Gospel, that of finding a treasure hidden, a pearl found in the depth of the sea and a net filled with fish taken from the sea, there is the common theme of a search for something hidden in the depths. It seems clear that Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God involves us in a search in the depths of our very selves.
The search is personal journey that each of us is on, the desire in each of our hearts ultimately for happiness. The truth of the Gospel tells us that this happiness can only be achieved when we have found Jesus, the true pearl of great price, the treasure that is hidden. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI explained how the earliest theologians understood the image of fishing:
“This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendour of God’s light, into true life… And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him”.
Each one of us is in some sense the fisherman of our own souls. Each one of us is on a journey of self-discovery. It is only when we discover the person of Jesus that we are beginning finally to come to some realisation of who we are and true happiness in the Lord.
Over these weeks new priests are being ordained to begin their ministry of being fishers of men. We pray for them. At this time also we pray for those contemplating entering the seminary or religious life that they may find the courage in prayer to accept the invitation of the Lord, to sell everything to find that pearl of great price, Christ himself.