Our Gospel reading for today presents Luke’s version of the calling of the first disciples. A major part of the story deals with Jesus asking Simon to put out into the deep to catch fish. Simon at first refused, thinking that Jesus knew nothing about fishing. Peter, however, relents. He senses that there is truly something special about Jesus. Of course the results were amazing. Peter’s nets caught so many fish that they were at a breaking point. Peter calls others to help him.

Just think about how different the ending of the story would have been if Peter had not consented to follow Jesus’ suggestion. With all of his experience as a fisherman, Peter thought that he knew better than Jesus about catching fish. In reality, however, Jesus demonstrated that sometimes in life we have to just “take a chance”, to “risk” responding positively to the challenges of life. When we do, even though it might be scary and not make a lot of sense, we might be surprised at the outcome.

Risking to believe that life is a loving gift given to us by God for our good and spiritual growth, can make a great deal of difference in life. Unfortunately it is difficult for many humans to take the risk of embracing life as it is presented to them. This is because we humans so often think that we know what is best for us and what will bring us the greatest happiness. We have a propensity to second guess life, not believing that it is designed to deliver to us exactly what we uniquely need to become all that we were created to be.

Of course to respond positively to the various challenges of life requires that we envision life as a God-created school that delivers the unique lessons that each of us needs to allow us to grow and become who God created us to be.

As Simon Peter found, if one is open to risk embracing the experiences that life presents, all things can change. Simon went from being a fisherman to the leader of a small group of men and women who literally changed the world. If Simon had not taken the change to put out into the deep at the request of Jesus, his life would never have changed to the extent that it did. His willingness to take a risk also led to his sainthood.

This story, I think, is meant to really encourage us to believe that the challenges of life can, if we risk to consider them good and learn from them, lead us to sainthood. The true   purpose of this earthly life is to transform us into God’s children – into saints.
Think about this!