God is not just a word…God is real…..We need to “get out of the boat” of our “comfortable life”…That is where the “big fish” are!

Today at Holy Mass we hear from St Luke in the gospel…In this text Jesus tells us a story about a King and his servants….“A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return”…….Each of us has something to do and while we do not earn heaven, heaven is a gift which we can not earn, God has given each of us a unique task…..And he expects us to do it…Some may say….What can I do for God?…My answer to that person saying that now is…A lot!…..If we only knew our potential…If we only had the courage to pursue it with reckless abandon!…….Jesus tells us very clearly…...”The Kingdom of God is within you!…Do you fully understand what that means!…Fear is the only thing that holds us back….What will people say?…..What if I fail?……What will happen if I take this risk?……Fear is not from God, it is from the evil one…..We need to “get out of the boat” of our “comfortable life”….That is the “space” God works in, when we “expose our self” and trust in him alone….When we meet him there in that “space”....When we stand in front of him "there" with nothing in our hands…In that encounter and in that "space" God smiles and says to us…Now we can begin!

“I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord”

People do not like to be uncomfortable….We want to feel we are in control…We want to feel like we are “safe”…..Ask any wildly successful person in the business world what they think about feeling “comfortable”…They will tell you flat out, that is not how “things get done”….The same goes for being a follower of Christ…….We need to “get out of the boat”……..A friend of mine told me a story about a French girl who felt called to become a nun…This girl was an only child and grew up in a wealthy family……She told her parents when she was sixteen….”In two years I am going to leave you and become one of Mother Teresa’s nuns, you should adopt other children”…How can a sixteen year old girl be so convinced of making such a radical decision?……She gave up a very comfortable life and she knew very clearly what was asked of her by God - And she did it!….We must have a similar conviction in our own life…But before we do…We must be assured of the reality that God is real!…This requires and encounter with him…Which can be had if we sit before the Lord in front of the Blessed Sacrament in silence…I have repeated this in these refections time and time again…When we know who it is that loves us and created us…When the reality of God becomes as tangible as the nose on your face….Then you will “get out of the boat”….And you will do GREAT THINGS!……Why settle for a mediocre life?…Stop “playing it safe”!…..If you only knew what you are capable of - YES YOU!……..I love the story in scripture when the first apostles, all of them fishermen, did not catch any fish and worked all night…In the morning Jesus tells them to throw their nets in the opposite direction…Peter, the master fishermen at first says…”Lord, we worked all night, that is not going to work, we won’t catch any fish”…But then Peter says…”Because you said so, I will do it”….And guess what?…Peter catches tons of fish!…In that moment, Peter understood something very important and says to Jesus, “Depart from me, I am a sinful man”…Jesus responds, “From now on, you will not be catching fish, you will be catching men”…..For St Peter to arrive at “that moment”, understanding fully who it is that is standing in front of him, not just some “guy” but God, it was that realization that propelled him forward to become who God called him to be, “the rock” which Christ built his Church upon….Peter then realized he needed to get out of his comfort zone…And so must we!...That is where the “big fish” are!

“Worthy are you, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things; because of your will they came to be and were created.”

In the gospel story from Mass today there was one man who was afraid to use what was given to him by the King……”‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man……He said to him, ‘With your own words I shall condemn you………You knew I was a demanding man…….Take the gold coin from him and give it to the servant who has ten”……We all have something to do - Yes that means YOU!…..But before we do it, we need to understand that God is not just a word…God is real…..We need to “get out of the boat” of our “comfortable life”…That is where the “big fish” are!