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JUNE 29
WALKING THROUGH FEAR
“When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon (St. Peter), ‘Launch out
into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ But Simon answered
and said to him, ‘Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing;
nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.’ And when they had done
this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So
they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.
And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When
Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for
I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Lk 5:4-8)
When Simon-Peter is initially confronted with the person of Jesus Christ,
his reaction is fear. “Depart from me,” he says, “for I am a sinful man.”
This is not “the fear of God,” which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter fears
his own “unworthiness,” and this fear makes him want distance from the
God-Man. It won’t be the last time that St. Peter “denies” Christ on the
basis of fear. When he thrice denies Christ during His final trial, it is on
the basis of a different fear – the fear of other people’s opinion.
And yet Christ calls this fallible human being to become a “fisher of men”;
to become the one-and-only, the great Apostle Peter. And Peter keeps
answering that call, despite the setbacks of his own, very human, fears.
I’m encouraged today by this “humanness” of the Apostle Peter. Fear is
an underlying obstacle, even when I don’t notice it, to entering into a true
relationship with God, or anyone else, for that matter. I am called to walk
through my fear, however, and keep following His call, despite my own
“unworthiness,” or other people’s opinion.
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