Fifth Sunday-C

Fifth Sunday in year C
  Once after Mass, a pious lady met with the priest and she was crying uncontrollably. The priest looked at her and said, "is that anything wrong? I never sawd you being sad and crying. what happened? O Father, My husband died last night. I am so sorry to hear that. did he have any last wish or saying. yes, Father he did. what did he say. what was his last word. he looked 
at me and said, "O Maria, put down that damn gun".
Today's gospel passage brings out the complete mission of Christ our Lord. Right  after His baptism at Jordan, our Lord Jesus Christ comes to the lake shore of Gennesaret and there He preaches the Good News of Salvation. Though there were thousands of rabbis in the time of Jesus; though there were so many teachers of the temple and synogogue in the time of Christ and though there were many spiritual and religious leaders at that time, people did not go to them. People were not drawn or attracted to them because they taught people about a God of punishment and fear. But on the other hand, Christ our Lord showed them all the father-God, God who is full of compassion and love, about a God who is slow to anger and ready to forgive. And that is why the crowd was pressing in on Christ.  
once a dad and his son were travelling to a distant country by a ship that encountered a big cyclone. The son got so afraid and looked at his dad who was confortably sleeping. He woke his dad up and said, "Dad, are you not afraid that we are going to be perished. we are going to die". The dad laughed at him and said, "Son, God will look after us. you do not need to be afraid. Just believe in Him". The son was not happy to hear that. Then the dad took a knife and tried to kill his son. The son was not afraid of his dad at all. So the dad askey him why. The son said it is because you are my dad and you are not going to kill me. Then the dad said, "Son, God is our Father and why are you afraid of the things that happen around us?. He will never abandon us. And Jesus was talking about that God and asked them to call that God Father.
After preaching the love and kindness of God our father to people, He said to Simon Peter, "Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch" He answed Christ saying, "O Master, all night long we tried our best and we did not get anything at all. Since you are the light of the world and you say so, I will let the nets down".
First Christ our Lord was preaching people the good news and now we see how he is teaching Simon and others about the secret of trusting God. As we put our complete trust in the Lord, miracles will happen, not one miracle or two but thousands and thousands of miracles will happen to us every day.
Once a man was saying his friend, "I got lost in the desert for three days and knelt before God and prayed for his help". " Did God come and help you?" The man said, "NO, before He could, an explorer showed up and helped me the way"
Miracles are happening every day but we are incapable of recognizing them.
As Simon Peter listened to Christ, Miracles happened and there he instantly realized his humanness, his human weakness and knelt before Christ and said, "Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man". But out of love, He calls them to become aposltes of the Good News. He calls them to become fishers of people.
Once a man met with the spiritual master and said, "Last night God appeared to me and said that you have the precious stone that would make me the richest man in town. Please give me that stone". The master took a stone from his pocket and gave it to him saying, "I found it one the road. Take it and it is yours". The man was happy to receive the stone. The next day, the man came to the spiritual master and said, "I reflected all day long and found the truth. Keep this stone and please give me the riches that made you to give away this stone".
As Simon and others realized their humanness and limited human frailties, Christ our Lord showed them the way to catch people. The true riches of being with Christ and helping others to know the kindgdom of god.
Dear friends, we are too given to the true riches to be with Christ and enjoy His love and forgiveness. We are blessed becasue we are here listening to His divine words and experiencing His presence among us. And we are also called to become fishers of people namely spreading the good news of salvation to all. We are as we celebrate the year of mercy asked to be merciful like the Father. God bless.