Launch Out into
the Deep
For a long time I
never ate whole fish. I was afraid that the bones would stick in my
throat. One day a friend showed me how to split it, take out
the bone, and enjoy fish. From then on the entire world of sea food
and its wealth opened up for me. I had expanded my horizons. This is
a simple example but it illustrates the gospel.
Jesus tells Peter to “launch out into the
deep.” The shallow waters were barren, but the ocean depths were
teeming with fish. Jesus was not giving advice to Peter about
fishing since Peter was the fisherman. Rather, Jesus is urging Peter
to move beyond the community of the Jews and begin working with
Gentiles. By moving out into uncharted territory, Jesus is
encouraging Peter to broaden his horizons, Peter listened, his
ministry flourished and Gentiles flocked to the church in droves.
The French philosopher Michael Foucault said
that all of us have a grid in our mind, by which we make
distinctions between the self
and the other; between
us and
them; this is part of our
thinking, part of the categories of our mind. The
other is unfamiliar,
strange, unknown, so we would rather stick with the familiar, move
in our same old grooves. But if we do venture out into the unknown,
the results can be amazing.
My Jesuit school in Mumbai used the same
words “launch out into the deep” to challenge students to expand
their horizons through education. For a large part, this country is
made up of people who moved beyond their shores and were courageous
enough to settle in a foreign land. The gospel of today implies that
a truly “dynamic” spirituality impels you to launch out into the
deep and be willing to take the road not traveled before.
Fr. John DiMello
Parochial Vicar