Now when he had ceased to speak, he said to Simon: Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
And Simon answering said to him: Master, we have labored all the night, and have taken nothing: but at thy word I will let down the net.
And when they had done this, they enclosed a very great multitude of fishes, and their net broke. And they beckoned to their partners that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were almost sinking. Which when Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
For he was wholly astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. And so were also James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. And Jesus saith to Simon: Fear not: from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And having brought their ships to land, leaving all things, they followed him.
During the month of SUBtember, I have been telling you that my mission is to educate and inform about the beauty and simplicity of our faith. The Peasant Life aims to capture the simple things that form the foundation of our faith and allow us to find them and get back to them. For Simon Peter, it was as simple as seeing a truly massive haul of fish for him to recognize that Jesus is Lord. For me, my conversion happened when I had a desperate prayer answered. For each of you, the simple things might be different.
What is the simplest description of your faith? How would you explain it to a curious but uninformed friend? What is the most fundamental thing that every Christian should know about faith? Let’s talk about it!
I often find Christians complicate the question of faith. I think we should say that 'faith' is basically another word for 'trust'. We trust our human friends, but there's always a bit of room for caution because they might go mad, or secretly hold a grudge, or forget us, or die, or fall short of our trust in some other way. But God is not limited in any of these ways, so total trust in God is reasonable - although not always easy!
A friend of mine once told me that trust is "giving someone the power to hurt us" and believing that they won't. If you think about it, that is our whole relationship with God--He has the power over our whole lives, and we have to trust that whatever stormy seas we may be in at the time, He won't abandon us--and anything that hurts ultimately redounds to our good in ways that may be mysterious to us.
Trust is an excellent "Simple Truth" of our faith, and *everyone* has personal experience where trust has worked well and has not worked, so Trust as a concept is something readily accessible to even the remotely curious! Thank you for this thoughtful comment!
I often find Christians complicate the question of faith. I think we should say that 'faith' is basically another word for 'trust'. We trust our human friends, but there's always a bit of room for caution because they might go mad, or secretly hold a grudge, or forget us, or die, or fall short of our trust in some other way. But God is not limited in any of these ways, so total trust in God is reasonable - although not always easy!
A friend of mine once told me that trust is "giving someone the power to hurt us" and believing that they won't. If you think about it, that is our whole relationship with God--He has the power over our whole lives, and we have to trust that whatever stormy seas we may be in at the time, He won't abandon us--and anything that hurts ultimately redounds to our good in ways that may be mysterious to us.
Trust is an excellent "Simple Truth" of our faith, and *everyone* has personal experience where trust has worked well and has not worked, so Trust as a concept is something readily accessible to even the remotely curious! Thank you for this thoughtful comment!