Our Lady Of Perpetual Help

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Reflection -   Week of February 9, 2025

Question of the Week:

When I have felt like I was in deep water, in over my head, when doing something I felt

called by God to do? Did I overcome my fear or discomfort and how?

     We are not told what Jesus taught the crowds when he was a short distance from theshore. But when he finished, he asked Peter to “put out into deep water” to catch fish (Luke 5:4). Assuredly, it made sense to go out to deeper water to find more fish, but it also foreshadowed what Peter would come to find out over the next few years. Peter would get into deep water—sometimes literally!—in following Jesus on his mission.

     Our presence here today puts us in the place of the crowds on the shore of Lake Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee). We are in the presence of God, listening to God’s word, attuned to what it can teach us. But Jesus calls us to more than wading in the shallow shoreline. He calls us to deep water as well, to the depths of our faith, to the depths of our being. It can be as scary as the deep end of a pool when you are learning to swim. But we have Jesus’ words to assure us: “Do not be afraid” (Luke 5:10). Even far from shore, let us respond as Isaiah did: “Here I am!” (Isaiah 6:8).