Fishers of Love

Today's gospel was John 21: 1-19 in which Jesus comes to His disciples after he had been raised from the dead and they are all fishing. Their nets are empty and they are basically stinking at the whole fishing gig. Jesus tells them to throw their nets off the other side of the boat and low and behold, they catch a lot of fish. Then, they look on the shore and there's Jesus, just chillin' on the beach with some fish cooking over the fire. The disciples go and join Him and Jesus tells them to tend to His sheep, to watch His flock.

I am reminded of Matthew 4:19 - " He said to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men" during this time because when Jesus first gathers His posse, He does so in Matthew 4:19 when they're fishing. Now, in the end, He meets them once again, fishing. And the message He has to send is about the same, take care of my people, evangelize, spread the good word, but most of all, tend to them, love them.

I clearly cannot fish and I certainly am not the best speaker for the Catholic Church but I can talk about what I do know, what each of us in one way or another, knows: love.

Evangelizing scares me and I don't like it. I feel like it's a heavily weighted word and I just associate negative feelings toward it so when I read these passages, I want to put my own spin on it by thinking, what can I do as a fisherlady? What net could I use? How could I spread more of God's great message (without an agenda) of love, peace, respect, kindness and compassion?

Tackling Jesus' messages can be cumbersome at times because I struggle to break it down into something more attainable for me; something more within my abilities. But today, I think I might've figured out a net I could use. Instead of fishing for people, I want to fish for love. I want to pull the love out of people and expose it for all of its confusing yet wonderful, beauty. In the simplest of ways, do we tell those around us that we love them? Do we tell our friends, family, co-workers, boyfriends/girlfriends why we love them? That's a good start...that's merely casting a net of love and hoping to scoop up some warm fuzzies while doing it.

It's important to take it another step further too, though. We can't just be in the business of fishing for love for ourselves. What good is it if it's not shared? Here's where I really want to stretch my fishing license, I want to point out the love others show each other. For example, stopping one of my students at lunch and asking him/her why they love another student in our class. Or thanking strangers for holding the door for me. Or striking up a conversation with someone who looks lonely or frustrated or tired. Being friendly, being kind, being compassionate, being not just the fisherlady, but also the net of love being thrown out for the world to get caught up in.

Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if everyone was wrapped up in that same net of love and we all strove to be fishers of love instead of pessimism, selfishness, greed or negativity? I pray for that world for my students and for you.