News
AA-Info n.2 - October 2023
“But at your word I will cast the nets” (Lk 5:5)
Roma
Editorial
Fr. Ngoa Ya Tshihemba
Superior General of the Augustinians of the Assumption
According to the Gospel of Saint Luke (5, 1-11), Simon Peter and his companions had gone to their usual fishing, casting their nets here and there. However, they had spent the whole night without taking anything. But we see how Jesus enters the scene. He wants to preach first, and he needs a boat to be in a place where he can be clearly heard. And at the end of the preaching comes the order to Simon Peter: “Go out to sea, and cast your nets for fishing.” Simon Peter, with his expertise, wants to show Jesus that at that time, it is impossible, the best time for fishing having passed. Then he submits to the master’s order by pronouncing these words which restore life: “But, on your word, I will throw the nets. » We know the rest of this story.
I know that in most of the (Vice-)Provinces of the congregation, you have still, after the second part of the provincial chapters, cast your nets. You have thrown them into the education and formation sectors, into the digital continent, into parishes, etc. And of course, you often do this in “Alliance” with our lay brothers and sisters.
In some cases, you will make risky choices: unpopular choices, not-so-profitable choices, really new choices. So be the lucid pioneers of new choices for true joys, true Life, therefore choices according to the Gospel. Pope Francis, during his recent trip to Mongolia, spoke of “spending one’s life for the Gospel.” He called those around him - bishops, priests, consecrated persons and others - to return to the Lord from whom everything started. Otherwise, he says, “pastoral commitment risks becoming a provision of sterile services”. It is on the words of the Lord that we cast our nets.
Our Founder, Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, liked to use the words “goal” and “spirit”. He spoke very often, on the one hand, about our goal (the goal of the Assumption) and, on the other hand, about the spirit (the spirit of the Assumption). We therefore see that, in all cases, an Assumptionist should be driven by something. These are, moreover, the fundamental principles of spirituality that Father d’Alzon bequeathed to his religious family: “Two major principles emerge in the spiritual thought of Father d’Alzon and determine its general configuration. On the one hand, the goal to be pursued, which is expressed in the imperatives of the Kingdom. On the other hand, the spirit which must animate the workers of the Kingdom, namely the influence of the triple love over an entire life.” (Principes de Spiritualité assomptionniste, Editions du Centre d’Alzon, 1959, p. 2).
When Simon Peter agreed to cast the nets, it was not based on his expertise or his human calculations, but by obeying an “order” of another kind, therefore motivated by something, a word. Obedience had produced abundant fishing. “Taste and see how good the Lord is.” (Ps 34:9) The Pope, in the message cited above, invites us to have this experience of tasting and seeing the Lord, for example in adoration, because this becomes the condition for spending one’s life for the Gospel.
It is difficult to spend your life for the Gospel without being motivated to do so by Someone. We, Assumptionists, have a goal that we pursue and a spirit that inhabits us. We therefore agreed to spend our lives for the Gospel, driven by this spirit. “To spend life for the Gospel because we have tasted (cf. Ps 34) this God who has made himself visible, tangible, accessible in Jesus. Yes, He is the good news intended for all peoples, the announcement that the Church cannot stop bringing, incarnating it in life and ‘whispering it’ to the hearts of individuals and cultures.”, says Pope Francis.
Have you tasted the Lord? His mercy, his love, his justice, his goodness? So, move out to sea, and “cast your nets for fishing.” Yes, it is in the name of the Lord that we do it. Courage !
To read the whole AA-Info #2 click here...