Fishing or Casting, That Is The Question

Sometimes I think we should call it casting instead of fishing. When I was a little girl, family fishing trips were a common weekend outing. I remember having no patience with the fact that you sat, and you sat, and you sat, and maybe you would catch a fish. You could have all the right equipment, be in the right place, the right time of day, but it didn’t guarantee a catch. We can cast out into life like this too, just waiting for something to nibble our line so we can reel it in instead of waiting for direction from the Lord about which direction he’s calling us to go. In today’s Gospel reading, the disciples sat all night with no fish in the net, but as soon as they listened to Christ, with the directions he gave, not only were they productive in their catch, but the resources that they had to do their job stayed intact, and were not stretched to damage.

When I was a young adult, the parish I was attending didn’t really have any opportunities for young adults to grow or engage in their faith beyond helping with the high school youth program. I remember being told “to go do life, and come back when I get married and have kids because there’s not really anything for you right now.” I was being told to aimlessly cast into life. Luckily for me, I could hear God‘s voice telling me to cast onto the other side of the boat, and we started our own young adult group out of my apartment. We do our parishes and our duty to God a great disservice when we push young adults aside and tell them there’s no place for them. We wonder why they leave when they so obviously don’t feel like they belong. I made a commitment the day that I was told to leave, that I would never make a young adult feel like they didn’t have a place in the church. Who are the young adults in your life? How can you help them cast their nets in a productive and fruitful way? How does your parish serve the young adults in your community?

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Psalm 127:1