Fishers of men

I came from our chapter household meeting last night. Bro Eric confirmed that he will be leaving the chapter to serve in ANCOP as COO. From the time that they became our leader, my wife and I would worry the day when he and sis Carina would leave our group to do another service for the community.

Today's gospel is taken from Luke 5:1-11. In his homily, Fr Larry Faraon described fishing as a boring activity. "If you've tried it", he said, "it can be boring and frustrating. It takes a lot of your time waiting and waiting until you get a bite off your hook. Sometimes you go home empty handed or get to catch only one or two fishes after spending the whole day."

"If you are familiar with the game of soccer, we also see contests end up sometimes in a draw, or 1-0 or 2-1 or 1-all after a long time. It takes patience and perseverance to score a goal and when somebody does, everybody gets ecstatic! You see the players and the crowd in jubilation. It is a magical moment! It is the same with fishing. You also get very happy and excited when you finally catch your fish!"

So imagine what the disciples - expert fishermen - felt when after a long day, they followed Jesus' command to lower the nets again. And when they caught a large amount of fish to the point of breaking the net, imagine the surge of emotions that the disciples felt! You could imagine how they acknowledged Jesus - a carpenter - as the expert in fishing! So when He said to them that from then on, they will be fishers of men, they left everything and followed him.

While I read the gospel today, flashback of memories with bro Eric came back to me - how he taught us to evangelize and how he practiced his evangelization with other people and his flock.

Most of our participants then and members now is probably bro Eric's or sis Carina's recruit. Their gentle and thoughtful relationship to each and every one of us has this couple very much endeared to us all. And their leadership style will forever instill in many of us to have faith in our great God and to be faithful in the little things.

Like fishermen, they now move on to other fishing spots. Their move to ANCOP will greatly benefit and touch more people. To bro Eric and sis Carina, we will forever cherish how lovingly you took care of our chapter and us individually. You will forever be a part of our WB3A and Ancop St Joseph Sunriseville family. Cheers!