Traditional Catholic Teaching - FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord.

St. Luke 5: 8.

The miraculous draught of fishes, of which St. Luke gives us an account in to-day's Gospel, made St. Peter believe so thoroughly in our Lord's divinity that he sank on his knees in adoration, crying: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." These words are expressive of profound humility. St. Peter himself unworthy even to look at One whom this miracle revealed as the Son of God; he was not worthy to be so close to God, but the reverence with which he uttered these humble words shows that his most earnest desire was for Jesus to remain with him. St. Peter's example teaches us how sincerely we ought to acknowledge our misery before God and how humbly we ought to confess that we are unworthy of His help, but at the same time we should implore Him not to look at our unworthiness, and in His infinite goodness and mercy to abide with us always.

"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." This is the chief trouble of human life, that we can never be as good as we should be. We keep our good resolutions only partially; in fact if we were faithfully to keep even some of them, we should have made far more progress in virtue than is really the case. As it is, we make resolutions to-day, and forget them tomorrow; we are uncertain whether to keep or abandon them, and this constant wavering between two opinions robs us of inward peace and prevents our attaining to solid virtue. What we have many reasons for considering good to-day will tomorrow seem doubtful, and we shall discover just as many arguments against it as we now have for it, and so we waste precious time in a state of doubt, indecision and hesitation, and instead of becoming more like God, we grow more unlike Him. What wretched creatures we are in His sight! He never changes and we are always wavering between good and evil; He is always the same towards us, and we are so fickle in our love of Him! We ought to pray with deep humility for strength and determination to do right. Yet it is not merely our want of resolution that hinders our spiritual progress, but our faults and sins reveal to us our misery, since we have repeatedly offended God by them.

How mean and unworthy we are in the sight of God, who is all-holy! In his humility St. Augustine exclaims: "Thou art good, and I am evil; Thou art justice, and I am unjust; Thou art light, and I am blind; Though art the remedy for disease, and I am sick; Thou art supreme Truth, whilst in me is nothing but vanity." Sin is the chief misery of human life, for it separates us from God, hinders us from fulfilling our true destiny and brings discord into our soul. It plunges us into the things of this world, leads us astray, and makes us pursue vain shadows that finally always deceive us. It entangles us in what is earthly, and so we forget what is eternal.

No one but God can deliver us from this state of spiritual misery. From Him alone comes pardon; He alone can make us His children again; He alone can give us strength to amend our ways and to overcome temptation. Our sins may render us unworthy to speak to the Lord, yet at the same time they compel us to call upon Him. St. Augustine exclaimed: "My contrition constrains me; my misery forces me to call upon Thee. I am sick, therefore I have recourse to the Physician; I am blind, therefore I appeal to the eternal Light, I am dead, therefore I long for life. Thou art my Physician, my Light and my Life; Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy upon me; Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me!”

Jesus will hear us if we earnestly cry to Him, for however blind and wretched we may be in His sight owing to our sins, His mercy is infinite. He will help us to conquer all our sins, even those into which we are most liable to fall; and He will enable us to avoid them in future, no matter what temptations the fortunes of life may bring with them.

The misery of human life is seen in the fact that everything is so subject to change. We make all sorts of plans and prepare for this or that state of affairs, and often all turns out differently, in a way quite contrary to our expectations. God controls our destiny; we cannot do so. How insignificant we are in comparison with God! We cannot say with certainty regarding the smallest event that it will occur in some particular way. God directs even the most trifling things so that they carry out His will, and we are not only unable to foresee His decrees, but we cannot understand in many cases how they can be beneficial, nor how our very hindrances can eventually lead us up to the light. Our inability to comprehend God's designs makes us realize our own nothingness, and ought at the same time to fill us with boundless confidence in Him.

What our intellect fails to fathom, lies open before His all-seeing eye as conducive to our salvation; what causes us joy is really often a punishment, whilst what seems disastrous may be, in His Hand, the seed of our truest happiness. Therefore we must leave things to Him, troubling about nothing save at every moment to do His Will, and thus the miseries of life will be transformed into joy and gladness in eternity.

Our present life is subject to many accidents and of short duration. The longer we live, the more does our vigour diminish; the further it seems to advance, the weaker it grows. Nothing is permanent, all is liable to change. Joy alternates with sorrow, happiness with grief, laughter with tears; sickness follows health, and death life. We have nothing lasting, and in this fact again we recognize our misery; One alone is unchangeable, the infinite, eternal God. Our life is great and worthy only if we cling to Him, love Him and remain in union with Him. Without Him we are poor, weak and wretched; with Him we are rich, strong and happy; without Him there is no progress in good, no forgiveness and correction of sins, no confidence amidst the fluctuating fortunes of life, and no refuge in death; with Him we can overcome sin and grow rich in virtue, whilst we trust all that concerns us to His care. Therefore let us love Him with all our hearts, never wavering; let us not be captivated by sin, not confused if we fail to comprehend God's designs; let us willingly endure the changing circumstances of life, for in this way only shall we rise above its miseries and live worthly; in this way only shall we, weak mortals as we are, deserve some day to have God Himself as our exceeding great reward. Amen.

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