By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted February 7, 2025

(See the readings for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Betty recalled the day she got the results. It was a cloudy day. She had gotten home late the night before and now in the morning as she was heading out to work, she grabbed the mail. Once in the office she flipped through the envelopes and noticed one from the hospital. The doctor had ordered a biopsy the week before she had gone away.

She opened the envelope and read the report. She had been diagnosed with cancer. She went online and set up her next appointment with her doctor. She would have to wait three weeks. Betty recalled how the test results were on her mind all day.

All sorts of questions were racing through her mind. What would she do? How advanced is the cancer? Is it curable? Is it treatable? Will I lose my hair? Will I be able to work? Am I going to die? At the end of the day, she decided to stop by the health club for a swim thinking maybe that would help clear her mind.

She entered the building, went to the locker room, got changed and headed to the pool. She sat down on the side of the pool at the shallow end. Not many people were there this day and she was happy about that. She sat dangling her feet in the water, not quite reading to get in.

As she looked down to the deep end of the pool, she noticed a father and his son coming out of the men’s locker room. The son was young, maybe 5 or 6 years old. She noticed them talking, and it looked like the father had asked a question because the boy was nodding his head in a “yes” fashion. Then the father picked up the boy, took him in his arms and walked to the edge of the pool. Then he jumped in with the son in his arms.

As you would expect they went right down under the water then a few seconds later popped up. The boy was shaking the water from his head and both were laughing. At that Betty eased her way into the water and began swimming laps.

Betty explained later that the image of the father and his son going into the deep spoke to her then and there. She had to go into the deep with this cancer situation. Seeing that father and son she realized that she was not going alone, God would be with her. So long as she held on to him, like the son holding onto his father, she would be able to handle the challenges ahead no matter where they would lead.

The Gospel account for this Sunday’s liturgy recounts the call of Peter. The “call” theme is also part of the first reading from Isaiah. While there are many different elements to each of these “calls” one we might consider today is the trust needed to respond.

Jesus asks Peter to do an extraordinary thing when he asks him to go out into the deep. Peter and his crew were professional fisherman. This was their livelihood. They had been fishing all night and had a bad one – they caught nothing. Returning to shore, they are washing their nets at the end of their workday. The nets they would have used are very large and must be cared for in a particular manner. Jesus had approached and got into Peter’s boat and asked him to set out a little so the people could see and hear him preach. When Jesus is done preaching, it is then he says to Peter: “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

Peter is surprised by the request. He explains that they had been fishing all night to no avail. The “ask” was a big one. Fishing was a demanding job. Peter and his crew in the two boats were done for the day. They have just finished washing the nets and are getting ready to go home. Peter does not dismiss the request, even though he is surprised by it, and says, “but at your command I will lower the nets.”

Peter and his crew go out into the deep, cast the nets, and as we know, the catch is so great that the boats almost sink. Peter and his crew are astonished. He falls to his knees in the boat and says, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Jesus reassures Peter and commissions him in service: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they return to shore Peter and the others leave everything and follow.

Peter is asked to do something extraordinary, something that goes against his instinct and experience. He is able to respond, and to take his crew with him, because he puts his trust in Jesus. Notice also that Jesus does not tell him to go out into the deep alone. Jesus goes with Peter. He is present.

Peter’s faith in Jesus is one of the key characteristics in his response. That faith and trust will develop even further as he follows Jesus. We see the first steps when Peter falls on his knees at the catch of fish. He is recognizing the divine presence in Jesus. He knows he is not worthy to be in his presence for he “is a sinful man.” Jesus’ reassurance, “do not be afraid,” paves the way for the commission. Peter now responds with even great trust and faith, to this even bigger “ask;” he leaves everything and follows Jesus.

There are a few similarities in Isaiah’s experience of his call. He likewise recognizes his own unworthiness or sinfulness as he experiences the heavenly vision. He recognizes he is in the presence of the divine and he is filled with holy fear. The angel’s symbolic touching of his tongue cleanses him so that when he hears the call, he places his trust in God and responds: “Here I am, send me.”

Jesus is present to us at all times. He continues to call us, to invite us to go deeper and deeper in this relationship of faith. Sometimes this might include a vocational call, like Peter or Isaiah. More regularly it may be in the more ordinary situations of life when we sense he is asking us to do something particular that we might see as challenging, unusual, inconvenient and perhaps even frightening.

In life there are many times where he asks us, like he asked Peter, to “go out into the deep.” It is an invitation to faith, to take us somewhere greater than we can imagine or anticipate.

The woman mentioned in the beginning who watched the father and son jumping into the deep was reminded of God’s abiding presence in her life. She was able to face the cancer diagnosis in peace after her memory was stirred by that father and son.

Perhaps we might consider the call of Peter as an invitation to us, to put our trust and faith in the Lord. When he asks us to “go out into the deep,” he will go with us. We will not be alone and our lives will be transformed as we go deeper and deeper into the life of faith, of trust and of love.

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, Penndel, and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.