5 September 2019
Memorial of St. Teresa of Calcutta
St. Paul prays for the Colossians that they may be “strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might, for all endurance and patience. . .” (Col 1: 11) Patience and perseverance in doing what is good are necessary, because often the good that we are called to do, particularly the good of loving those in our family, at our work, and on our streets, can be very difficulty. Patience in the difficult times is not a grace that we give ourselves. Rather, we and others must pray for this gift from the Lord. Oftentimes, the way the Lord grants us this gift is to see that those with whom we work are being loved by Him, including in the moments when we are impatient with them. Other times, He shows us how patient they are with us and our idiosyncracies and mistakes. Still other times, patience comes from simply knowing and humbly acknowledging that the Lord is with us in the times of difficulty, that we are not alone.
It is this last kind of patience that I believe St. Peter had in today’s Gospel. After working the midnight shift on fishing duty, at the end of a long and failure riddent night, Jesus gets in his boat and tells him to go out onto the sea and to cast the nets again. Exhausted and frustrated, surely St. Peter was not (on his own) inclined to row out to the depths to fish again. Yet he responds, “. . ., but at your command I will lower the nets.” (Luke 5:5) The presence of the Lord, of God’s Word, is enough. We need nothing else.
Mother Teresa, whom we remember today, was certainly one of the most loving and fruitful missionaries of recent history (and beyond). The good that she did was very demanding, and took both a physical and spiritual toll on her. She experienced decades of spiritual dryness, a painful lack of sensing the presence of God. And yet, knowing that cooperation with God depends on the presence of God, not on whether or not we sense that presence, she daily dedicated herself to responding to Jesus who had called her, saying, “Come, be my Light!” May St. Teresa pray for us, that our reverence may not depend solely upon feeling, but upon presence of God, who even in difficulties, or rather especially in difficulties, offers us His strength to serve, if only we are open to reverently receiving His gift.