Very Shortly, Ash Wednesday will be upon us (March 5) and we will enter the Lenten Season once more. Lent is all about conversion. It can be about the conversion process embarked upon by a new member of the Christian community. Or it can be about the on-going conversion that is the part of the life of those of us who were baptized as infants or long ago. In every case, conversion is an invitation offered to us. And it is the acceptance of this invitation, when it is offered and in a continuing fashion throughout our lives.
This Sunday, Luke tells us a story of invitation (Luke 5:1-11). Jesus gathers all kinds of people around him. To deal with the crowd, Jesus makes use of the setting and the situation in order to reach out to them. It is in a fishing area and so Jesus makes use of one of the fishing boats from which to teach. When he had finished speaking to the crowds, he asked the boat`s owner, Simon to go fishing with him.
For Luke, the occasion of fishing becomes an opportunity to illustrate the conversion of Simon and his partners. What can we learn about call and conversion through fishing? In Luke`s story, we can see several stages of the fishing enterprise. First of all, Jesus invites Simon to go fishing. Then accepting to do so, Simon and Jesus together set out in search of the fish. They let down the nets in hope of finding them. Secondly, many fish are caught in the nets, so many that Simon need the help of his partners. Thirdly, with this cooperative effort they pull the fish into the boats and take them ashore.
Call and conversion, follows something of this experience. There is an initial quest – setting out to find. It is seeking, questioning, wondering and searching, always with much uncertainty. Then, somehow, we have an encounter. We find something of what we are seeking – we are hooked or netted. This is the first discernment of a call, a surface conversion. But it needs to go deeper. Having been touched by God, we need to allow this first contact to touch our very heart – a conversion of life. Simon simply went fishing. Ultimately he was touched in the depths of his heart – and became a committed disciple.
In our fishing image from Luke, at each stage of the fishing or the conversion process there are others who are involved, partners. In our own call and conversion, there are always partners. Conversion is not a solitary experience. Nor is conversion just for "me". Like Simon and his partner’s conversion leads us to share with others who are also "fishing" or seeking.
Luke closes this story with Jesus issuing an explicit invitation to Simon and his partners to join him in his mission. Like the fish, they are caught, like the fish, they are brought on board with Jesus. Having been brought on board, they leave what they have been about and follow Jesus as disciples and ultimately as partners, sharing the mission.
In our own conversion process, as we see in Luke`s story, the conversion, the quest is repeated, again and again.
Question: As we approach Lent 2025, where are we in our own
"fishing", our own conversion?
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