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“… everything conspires for the good of each individual soul, just as the march of the seasons is designed to make the most insignificant daisy unfold it’s petals on the day appointed for it.” - St. Therese of Lisieux

(This is one of my most favourite quotes and reminds me of my little sister)

Source

Fr. John F. Russell, O. Carm., The Path to Spiritual Maturity: St. Therese of Lisieux (Society of the Little Flower: Darien, Il.) at p. 1.

We had a most unexpected visitor at a Christmas party I attended this evening. The pictures are my nieces, my nephew, my sister and Santa!

This article is a continuation of God’s Answer to Prayer - Part I. If you haven’t read the first part of the article, please do so! Also, you may get more from this entry if you first spend a minute or two reading and reflecting upon Luke 5:1-11 and then read it. Trust me. Go pick it up. Please. Right now…

While God’s response to our prayers often resembles a cross there are occasions when He answers our prayers exactly as we have presented them. Like Rudy, who was accepted into Notre Dame and eventually fulfilled his dream of playing football for the university, sometimes we manage to ask for the right things. If our prayers relate to our vocation - the deepest desires God has placed within our hearts - we ought not to be surprised when God (eventually) grants our petitions.

Yet sometimes we are not only surprised by God’s response but also afraid. In Luke 5 we see Peter and his companions fishing all night but with no success. In the morning Jesus asks them to cast out their nets. Peter expresses his skepticism but obeys Jesus’ request. Peter is alarmed – “astonished” – that they bring in such a great number of fish that the fill two boats to the point of sinking! As Pope Benedict recounts Peter’s reaction in Jesus of Nazareth:

“He falls at Jesus’ feet in a posture of adoration and says: ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord’ (Lk 5:8). In what has just happened, Peter recognizes the power of God himself working through Jesus’ words, and this direct encounter with the living God in Jesus shakes him to the core of his being. In the light of this presence, and under its power, man realizes how pitifully small he is. He cannot bear the awe-inspiring grandeur of God - it is too enormous for him. Even in terms of all the different religions, this text is one of the most powerful illustrations of what happens when man finds himself suddenly and directly in the proximity of God. At that point, he can only be alarmed at himself and beg to be freed from the overwhelming power of his presence. The inner realization of the proximity of God himself in Jesus suddenly breaks in upon Peter and finds expression in the title that he now uses for Jesus, ‘Kyrios’ (Lord). It is the designation for God that was used in the Old Testament as a substitute for the unutterable divine name given from the burning bush. Whereas before putting out from shore, Peter called Jesus epistata, which means ‘master’, ‘teacher’, ‘rabbi’, he now recognizes him as the Kyrios.”

Like Peter, all of us toil to follow God’s will and envisage what its fulfillment will resemble. However, God’s response is always more generous. In receiving precisely what we have sought, but in abundance, we are forced us to recognize that God is not only omnipotent but also proximate. We confront the reality that the All Powerful has heard the plea of a pitiful servant and granted a greater gift than our heart’s desire: “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord GOD (2 Samuel 18-19 NRSV)

And we are afraid.

Yet Peter’s statement to Jesus – “Depart from me” – is not the end of His relationship with Christ but merely the beginning. Jesus does not go, instead calming Peter’s fears: “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men” (Luke 5:10)

In John 6 we again see God’s abundance and the astonishment of man. We first read of Jesus’ feeding of five thousand with a mere five loaves and two fish and then His promise of the Eucharist to his disciples. All were initially amazed but “[a]fter this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him” (John 6:66 – NRSV) Now Jesus asks Peter if he truly wishes to depart from him:

So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:67-69 - NRSV)

All of us, as we kneel after receiving the Eucharist, spend time in silent reflection or lie in bed at night, express to God our deepest desires and our hearts greatest yearnings. We express disappointment when our prayers seem to go unanswered but we believe that He hears them and wants to give us gifts beyond measure. Yet at some point we may see the beginning of Jesus’ answer, the first fish in the abundant catch or the first glance of a lifetime of love. Then is not the time to withdraw. This is when the work begins. Jesus’ gifts must be brought in; they must embraced and accepted into our lives. And we will be afraid. And Jesus will whisper a lover’s response: “Do not be afraid.”