My Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
We are pilgrims of hope as our Holy Father names us this Jubilee Year. This Jubilee Year, we are reminded of our Baptism, crossing the threshold between heaven and earth as we begin our journey of conversion, sealed by the encounter with Christ. Christ is the “door” into which we cross, uniting us with the Father in union with the Holy Spirit. Christ is the heart of our journey, for it is through Him that we come to know, love, and serve God.
In the Scripture from Isaiah, we also acknowledge the mission of Jesus the Eucharist; to be sent forth to love one another as God loves us all the days of our life. It is courageous for each one to humbly say, “Here I am, send me!” For when we are sent, we are like other prophets, bringing the Word of God to His people and we will discover people who choose not to listen, whose heart is hardened. Yet God builds up strength in us! Our Holy Father encourages us, saying, “the Jubilee is a season of grace. How I would like this year 2025 to be truly a year of grace, abounding in truth, forgiveness, freedom, justice, and peace! In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, and each of us is called to make hope flourish all around us.”
In St. Luke’s writings, we hear Jesus call His apostles, saying they will be ‘fishers of men.’ Often, I think of this invitation specifically for those who are called to the Sacrament of Holy Orders; however, at the Sacrament of Baptism, we are all baptized as priests, prophets and kings and each one of us receives the invitation from Jesus to follow Him to be fishers of men; fishers in His name for all people. God calls us to have a relationship with Him. Our Holy Father tells us, “Jesus revealed God’s love in the beauty of His humanity, dwelling in our midst, sharing our daily life, our efforts, and our dreams, being merciful to those suffering in body and spirit, giving sight to the blind and strength to the disheartened. The three attitudes of God are mercy, closeness, and compassion.”
Jesus is our model as we journey as ‘fishers of men.’ Our mission is to offer mercy, closeness and compassion to one another. Our mission is to smile the light of God upon despair; to offer our hand to someone who needs help; to hold close someone who is mourning; to feed someone who is hungry. By our daily living, people whom we encounter will encounter God because we receive Jesus the Eucharist and offer Jesus the Eucharist to one another.
God created each person out of love and calls each person to love the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For those who are married, they understand the depth of this divine love as the two become one in God. “It is good, very good, in the Creator’s eyes. and this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation: “and God blessed them, and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it’” (CCC 1604). For those of you who are married, come celebrate your anniversaries with me at the Mass for Marriage on Saturday, February 8, 10:00 a.m., St. James Cathedral in downtown Orlando.
Jesus tells us, “do not be afraid.” He assures us of His everlasting love and gathers us to Him. In our uncertainty, as Peter voices, Jesus does not leave our side. He encourages us by His mercy. The presence of God always surprises us, as He does not come in the majesty of the heavens, but in our very nature and lives among us. He is with us now. Are we with Him?
May we follow Him as ‘fishers of men.’