Homily Two on the First Sunday of Luke
By St. John of Kronstadt
“Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men” (Luke 5:10).
By St. John of Kronstadt
“Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men” (Luke 5:10).
For the glory of God and the salvation of Christian souls, I want now, beloved brethren, to say a short word about the catching of men. When the Apostle Peter, having cast a fishing net into the Sea of Gennesaret at the word of the Lord, drew it out with a multitude of fish, whereas before he had fished all night and could not catch anything, and when, in horror from such a miraculous catch, he fell at the knees of the Savior, asking Him to depart from him as from a sinner unworthy to be with the Lord, the Savior said to him: "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men," i.e. this miraculous catch of fish by Peter signified his future successes with the assistance of the Savior, in preaching the Gospel, or in catching people from the abyss of destruction into eternal life.
The catching of men from the abyss of destruction into an endless, blessed life in heaven continues, brethren, both now and will continue until the end of the age, when the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven will be closed and the net of the Kingdom will be completely filled. Yes, beloved brethren, we are caught, caught constantly: on the one hand, by the Lord, His Angels, Apostles, God-bearing men - with calls for love and peace in the Kingdom of eternal life, eternal light, rest and blessedness - by the voice of conscience, the word of God, the Divine Service, the mysteries of faith; on the other hand, Satan with his minions - the spirits of evil in the heavenly places and with lawless people, by means of various temptations into the kingdom of eternal death, eternal darkness, and joyless, endless torment. “Be sober, be vigilant; for your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8), the Apostle Peter warns Christians. The Holy Apostle Paul desires that Christians who do not live in a Christian manner “that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:26).
We are caught, brethren: because we are free sinners, lame on both feet, the Lord catches us: because we, although Christians, are straying from the true path, we forget and have forgotten our Benefactor and Creator, have gone away from Him to a distant country by way of passions for the blessings of temporal life, - and without the net of His teaching, without His Divine word, without the sanctification and renewal of His life-giving mysteries we would have perished irrevocably. We are caught, on the other hand, constantly by Satan with various baits of sensual, quickly disappearing pleasures, the charm of various passions: because he sees an opportunity for this - in our sinful inclination to the pleasures of gross sensuality, and, therefore - an opportunity to destroy us forever. So, beloved brethren, let each of us have strict attention to himself; let each one look in whose net he is: whether in the net of the Lord, and if in the net of the Lord, then let him bless his own lot; because he is in the net of life, let him also be careful not to fall out of it and not to get entangled in the nets of the devil, and if he gets entangled, let him strive to quickly extricate himself from it, because his position is disastrous: he is in a mortal net. All Christians who follow Christ the Savior by faith and deeds, “not making provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom. 13:14) and crucifying it “with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24), are in the net of God, but Christians of little faith or unbelievers, living without Christ in their hearts and on their tongues, without prayers and deeds of virtue, doing the will of the flesh and their thoughts, are in the net of the devil.
Do you want to see how this twofold entrapment happens: one for salvation, the other for destruction? I will give one example, which reflective Christians will apply, by analogy, to many other cases in their lives. Here comes to you with a cross and in the name of the cross a humble monk or nun, or a beggar and in the name of Christ: some ask you to throw a mite from your surplus into the treasury of the Church of God, another that you give to him for the necessary food. Be attentive, beloved, to these persons: in their person Christ Himself undoubtedly comes to you and reminds you through them of His words spoken in the Gospel: “Inasmuch as you have done it for one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it for me” (Matt. 25:40). He wants to catch you in the net of His Kingdom by your mercy; He seeks pretexts in your almsgiving to justify you, sinners, at His terrible judgment, which will inevitably take place. Look: what you can, give to the one asking, in the name of Christ; be merciful, so that you yourselves may be worthy of mercy on that terrible day for everyone; do not be afraid: your alms will not be forgotten; atone, while there is time, for your sinful soul at the price of mercy to the servants of the Lord.
But behold, I see that the servants of Christ are leaving some of you empty-handed. I look: they bring you a notice inviting you to the horse race, and what do I see? You go with a contented look; you do not spare money to look at and admire the bestial spectacle. I warn you, beloved, for the future, beware: here Satan catches you in his net, and your pieces of silver, left in the race, will convict you on that day - of your passion for empty pleasures, of your neglect of the works of faith and piety, of works of mercy to the lesser brethren of Christ, of your pagan way of life. You, perhaps, laugh at me, hearing these words, call me a dreamer, an uninvited moralist, behind the times. But I pity you and I say to you: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep" (Luke 6:25). Woe to you who spend your time in the horse races; woe to you who applaud and laugh at the animals and their riders. Woe to you, because you have often exchanged the church service of a festive day for a horse race and human frenzy; because you have abandoned the Church, your Mother, your Savior, and neglected her Divine Service, and live not as Christians, but as pagans; woe, because you have denied those in need of daily food in order to save your money for the pleasure of the fair; woe, because many of you, after the circus, as at any other time, give in to drunkenness and debauchery; and to what better end will animal and human races lead? I do not speak of all this, but of some; conscience will tell to whom this is said. Is this what Christians should do, for whom the Son of God came down to earth to raise them from earth to heaven, to give them eternal blessedness instead of empty, coarse pleasures that humiliate their immortal, God-like souls – such blessedness as has never come to their hearts here? Is this what a Christian does, preparing himself for the blessed contemplation of the Tri-radiant One Divinity? I warn, as a pastor, my beloved flock, given over to me by God, against the soul-harming addiction to visiting circuses and theaters, and I pray everyone in the name of God to be attentive to themselves, to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and especially to be merciful to the poor. The day of each is near, beloved brethren, that is, the day of death and the private judgment of the sinful soul. “The righteous judge is before the doors” (James 5:9). But the snares of the enemy are everywhere. “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).
Be, O God, the Defender of our souls, for we all walk in the midst of the snares of the enemy; and deliver us from them, and catch us all in the net of Your kingdom, and save us, O Good one, as the Lover of mankind. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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