Gone fishing . . .

I was struck by today's Gospel . . .

Leaving Jerusalem for Galilee as Jesus had told them, they arrive near or at the same place where He had found them and invited them to follow Him. They had returned to their work . . . they had gone fishing, 'but that night they caught nothing.'

In the morning Jesus stood on the shore, the disciples did not know it was Jesus . . . they still didn't recognise Him. Then He speaks, 'Friends, have you caught anything?' They reply, ' No' and at His instruction they cast their net and haul in a huge catch of fish.

During the night, on their own, they laboured in vain; in the light when it was morning and at the word of God their nets were completely filled.

It is exactly the same for ourselves; in the absence of Christ there is emptiness. Through His word and in His light we bear fruit in abundance.

A great disappointment for any of us is when we cannot hear or see Christ because we are in the dark in our sins.

When we regularly receive the Sacrament of Confession we will always be in the light of Christ and bear much fruit.