02.04.25 - | Gospel Night | Jesus calls Peter | Jesus is Logos |

Opening Prayer      

Most holy Trinity, Godhead indivisible, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

You have made us in accord with Your own image and likeness.

Grant that all the thoughts of our minds, all the words of our tongues, and all the actions of our being

May we be always transformed by and conformed to Your perfect, good, and loving will.

And as you taught us to pray together…

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. 

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread, 

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

For thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever and ever. Amen

Where did this last phrase come from? 

This last phrase is not in the Bible. It is from the “Didache,” a catholic document that tradition says the Apostles wrote in the 1st century. (pronounced “Did-uh-kay”)

Upcoming major holy days:   Lent begins Ash Wednesday, March 5; Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19. 

Quote of the Week:

Jesus was the most balanced and perhaps the most beloved being ever to enter human society. Not only was he gentle and tender and true, but also righteous, stern as steel, and terribly tough on phony people. He was magnificent in his magnanimous spirit of forgiveness for fallen people but he was a terror to those who indulge in false pretenses. He came to set men free from their own sins, their own selves, their own fears. Those so liberated have loved him with fierce loyalty, even to death. – “A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23,” by W. Phillip Keller

Today’s Gospels 

1. What is the Gospel?

2. Gospel Reading for the 5th Sun in Ordinary Time (Feb 9):  Jesus Calls the First Disciples, Luke 5:1-11

3. Gospel Reading – John 1:1-5, The Word, Logos

The New Testament contains repeated references to the “Gospel.” The basic translation of the Greek term for gospel (evangelion) is “good news.” But there is no single passage in Scripture that specifically defines what the Good News is.  

I will give you the approved, correct answer, which is beautiful but kind of technical; and I will give you my version. 

Official version: The Gospel is the proclamation of salvation through the Son of God’s life, death, and resurrection, revealing God’s mercy and love for humanity. It invites all to faith, offering freedom from sin and the promise of eternal life. This is the fulfillment of all God’s promises since Creation, and particularly since the Fall of Man. 

Informal version:  The Good News is that this life isn’t all there is. Heaven awaits us but God wants us to learn how to use our free will to build our relationship with Him and develop the love to serve others. To assist us, we must learn humility to face our self-centeredness and continually ask forgiveness, seek wisdom from our mistakes to change ourselves, and cooperate with the grace He pours out to us. This will change our lives dramatically, not only here, but forever. It is interesting – and very fortunate for us – that the path to glory and greatness is humility and service. No matter what we do in life, we can make it great, from running organizations to menial tasks. It is never about the situations or conditions we find ourselves in that matters; the only thing that matters is what we do with the situations/conditions we have been given. Do we respond with love, service, understanding, and patience, or not. That is why we are here. 

The Gospel is not some independent set of beliefs that we revisit once a week in Church. The Gospel is a way of life, a way to change, a way to make a difference the right way. It so happens it is also the way that leads to the gates of Heaven. 

I found a great set of analogies provided by Richard Rohr to describe the Gospel.   

The Gospel is not a competing ideology that’s threatened by anything outside itself. It is the light of the world that illuminates the whole household; it is the yeast and not the whole loaf; it is the salt that gives flavor and nutrition to the much larger meal. —Fr. Richard Rohr 

What is more important, salt or the food it gives flavor to?  

What is more important, the yeast or the bread which yeast raises up?

What is more important, the light or everything we can see because of the light? 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not just the words, but the effect the words have in us, the richness it gives to our lives, the yeast that raises us up, the light that allows us to see the truth of things, and the path we are called to take. 

 Gospel Reading #1 – Jesus calls Peter (Simon) and the first Apostles.

Context: The call of Peter in today’s reading illustrates well all the stages of the Christian life. Peter has a fishing business on the Sea of Galilee (Gennesaret). They have just returned from a whole night of not catching any fish. You can imagine their frustration. When they reach the shore, Jesus is teaching a crowd that is becoming too large, and Jesus decides to get into Peter’s boat (uninvited, it seems), whereupon he finishes preaching to the crowds.  

The stages of Christian life that you will see in the story are 1) the need: initial situation or frustration, 2) invitation to trust, 3) positive response to invitation, 4) the result of trust, 5) reaction: amazement and humility, and 6) the call to act/follow. 

Luke 5:1-11 

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.

He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.

Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

Simon said in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets."

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."

For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon.

Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men."

When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

If you know anything about fishermen, they don’t like to be told how to fish. Especially by a carpenter. On top of that, Peter is no doubt frustrated.  Normally Peter probably would have told Jesus to get lost, but he is open. Why? (A clue is Peter calls Jesus, “Master.”)

Peter called him Master because he knew of Jesus. He wasn’t a follower, but he knew him. In John 1:42, Peter’s brother Andrew, a follower of John the Baptist, came to Peter and said, “We have found the Messiah,” and brought him to Jesus. Peter returned to fishing in Galilee until Jesus comes for him and calls him to follow. 

Is it realistic that these fishermen dropped everything and followed Jesus when he said “From now on you will be catching men”? 

Jesus didn’t just call them; he performed an unbelievable miracle. Multiple boats were filled with fish after a night of catching nothing. 

What is noteworthy about Jesus’ choice to perform this particular miracle?

1. Jesus wanted Peter. The miracle sealed the deal. 

2. In allegorical terms, the boat is the Church. We often hear of the “Barque of St. Peter.” Barque means boat. This refers to the role of the Peter and his successors (the popes) – to steer the Church. 

3. Jesus’ miracle connects this allegory to the moment when he says, “I will make you fishers of men.” 

Let’s review the stages of Christian life that we see in the story, but the point is to think about how these apply to our own lives. 

1) The need (initial situation or frustration) – they have caught nothing. We don’t enjoy needs, we suffer them. God allows us to suffer needs because he loves us. Our hands have to be empty of worldly things in order for God to fill them.  

2) Invitation to trust – Jesus seeks to enter the boat (our lives) all the time. He tells Peter to “put out to the deep,” which is to take a risk. A journey with the Lord takes some trust to get started, but cooperation always comes with grace.  

3) Positive response to invitation – Peter agrees reluctantly. Trust is like that at first, but we will never find out what God has in store for us if we aren’t open to trying. The alternative is doing it our own way. Unfortunately, that’s the way of separation from God. 

4) The result of trust –  then comes the payoff. Keep in mind, the full payoff doesn’t come until our next life, but a lot evidence for it comes in this life. Heavenly appetizers – joy, fulfillment, wisdom. Note that Peter left the material prize – all those fish – behind. 

5) Reaction: amazement and humility – everyone was amazed including the other fishermen and the entire audience on the shore. Then the emotional Peter falls to his knees and says, “Depart from me for I am a sinner.” Isn’t this true for all of us?  

Note that Jesus doesn’t correct Peter, for Peter IS a sinner. He accepts Peter’s confession. But also note that Peter’s past did not prevent Jesus from choosing him for the biggest, toughest job he had to give.  God always accepts our confessions and then says, “Great, we learn from it, we put it behind us, and we try some new and different ways!”

6) The call to act/follow – sure enough, Jesus calls them to a new life. The world was never the same, and it started one step at a time, just like for us.  

Gospel Reading #2 – John 1:1-5 “The Word”

Context:  It is not possible to have a perfect understanding of the infinite and eternal Trinitarian God with the human mind that is neither infinite nor eternal. Our very best intellectual experiences with time and space to not apply, since God is not contained within time or space, so we have no easy reference point. Those who enter heaven are promised a better understanding when we get there, but for now we have to accept 2nd-rate finite analogies! 

For example, imagine you were a 2-dimensional flat square on a flat plane and someone tried to explain they had met a 3-dimension square – a cube! Our first reaction would be confusion and disbelief.  Granted, there are man more analogies than this (we had a whole class on them a couple of years ago), but this will suffice for now because our point is to discuss one of the Trinitarian persons, not all three today.  

The only point of this is to remove some of the mystery or worry about not perfectly comprehending the Trinity.  It’s okay. 

Although Jesus introduces us to who he really is – one with the Father, he and the Father are one, etc. – John takes a shot at explaining it to the Jews with his prologue (John 1:1-5).  The reason I said “to the Jews” is because his first words “In the beginning” is the book of Genesis. “Genesis” translated back to Hebrew means, “In the beginning,” and every Jew would have know that by the time they learned to talk. John’s starting off with “In the beginning” would have sounded alarm bells to any Jewish audience. Is John harking back to the Creation of the Universe?  Actually, he is doing more than that. 

John 1:1-5, 14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

He was with God in the beginning. 

All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. 

What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, 

and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. 

Fyi, the “Word” is translated from the Greek, “Logos,” which is a bit richer than just “word.” It refers to logic, order, and reason. The Greeks had figured out that the order of the universe, it’s “logos,” had to come from somewhere. The Gospels were written in Greek and this is the work used by John for The Word, Jesus Christ. 

Do not be misled by the word, “Son,” as our procreating, human minds are likely to do. There is no procreation, for the Son was always there and, as all Christians have always believed, God is “eternally begetting.” 

Think of ‘begetting’ like your thought begetting or becoming reality, or your breath becoming word. Your word and your breath/thought were always there, always connected, always one. The mystery is that this “Word” is it’s own person. 

Let’s dig into a few of John’s statements…

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.

With these opening words of John's great prologue, he traces the origin of "The Word" backward into eternity to where God the Son was present with God the Father before time as we know it began. 

Is John drawing from Jesus’ teachings when he says this? 

It is what Jesus expressed in his “High Priestly prayer” Jesus speaks at the Last Supper:    

“Now, Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world existed.” – John 17:5  

What does Jesus’ statement mean, timewise?

That Jesus was with God not only at Creation but before Creation. Jesus predates Genesis!  

In the following verses, we now find that the Word of God in Genesis didn’t stay distant or abstract. John 14 says:                

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 

Closing Prayer

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.  Amen.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” 

God stepped into our brokenness, not as a king commanding from on high, but the opposite… to be fully man, he had to come as a vulnerable child in a manger. He embraced our frailty, bore our burdens, and walked our roads. 

Why? To reveal the fullness of God’s love, grace, and truth.

Yet, the passage is bittersweet. “He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him.” The rejection of Christ reminds us of humanity’s tendency to resist grace. Still, to all who do receive Him, He gives the power to become children of God. This is the astonishing gift: not earned, but freely given, by the One full of grace and truth.

As we meditate on this Gospel, we’re called to let the Word dwell richly in our hearts. It challenges us to reflect Christ’s light, to live in grace, and to bear witness to His truth. Today, let us marvel at the mystery of the Incarnation and open our hearts anew to the Word who became flesh, so that through Him, we may fully live.

LOGOS

The “Son” is also called Logos of God, the Word of God, Mind of God, and Wisdom of God. The term “logos” is particularly helpful in understanding the Son. 

Logos has evolved over the ages. Its concept is found in Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Indian philosophy but for out purposes we will focus on Greek since that is the one that converged with Hebrew philosophy. Logos translates as “word,” “reason,” “logic,” or “plan.” It dates back to the 6th century BC to the philosopher Heraclitus, who saw in the cosmos a kind of logos analogous to the human mind. 

By the 3rd century BC, the Stoics were defining logos as a more of an active, rational principle – if not spiritual – that affected all of reality; a kind impersonal force or laws that connected God with the Universe.  In this sense, logos was the logical, finite framework of the universe, which also kept the universe operating (i.e., laws of nature). 

It was in the same century that the Greek Empire had expanded to include Israel and Egypt under Alexander the Great, and the Jewish and Greek philosophies began to interact.  The Greeks were fascinated by the Hebrew bible and went to great pains to translate it to Greek around 250 BC, now called the Septuagint. It was called this because they employed 70 Rabbis to help with the translation which took 70 days (sept = seven in Greek). Since ancient Hebrew scripture was lost after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Septuagint became the basis for our Old Testament. 

In the 1st century BC, the Jewish philosopher, Philo (25 BC-50 AD), added a moral dimension to the concept of logos. Logos was not just the impersonal, intermediate force linking God to the physical laws of the universe, but God's personal, intermediate force,  which included His moral laws ("Word" of God) – goodness, justice, mercy – as well. Philos furthermore used logos as an image of God, for instance in describing angels who appeared to man on behalf of God. 

This takes us to the end of the 1st century AD, when the last of the Apostles, John, wrote the last Gospel referenced above. He was with Jesus for his entire, all the miracles, the Transfiguration, death on the cross, resurrection, and Ascension. He was known as the theologian of the Apostles. John explains that Logos was, indeed, everything Philo said, and more. Logos was not only God’s image and intermediary with the world, but God's mediator with the world; Logos was not only a personal force and interface with us but the person of Jesus Christ, through whom personalized himself even further by entering humanity to save us from ourselves. 

Let’s read this again (the Greek translation for Logos is Word)...

In the beginning of time was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was, in the beginning of time, with God. It was through him that all things came into being, and without him nothing came to be. 

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw his glory, the glory of which belongs to the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth. - John 1:1-3,14

In a way, Jesus/Logos is the Architect and Architecture of the universe, but also our connection, our link, to the Father. 

Gina asked if Jesus' being the Architect and Architecture of the universe left any relevance for God the Father. That's a good question considering how much Logos seems to be doing! Let us remember, though, that God the Father is the author of existence, the “I AM,” from which Logos comes. Logos is a kind of manifestation of God's mind or intellect, and therefore has his existence in and from the Father. 

The Nicene Creed uses "eternally begotten" to describe the Son. You can't think of begetting the same as we do in the finite world because this begetting is eternally happening. It is helpful that Augustine also uses the words "eternally given" and "eternally generated." 

The CCC also explains that the Son is eternally generated by the Father:

"The fact that the Son is generated by the Father is indicated by the name 'Son.’ As Jesus and Paul are both quoted in scripture, we have ‘The Father’ and ’The Son.’  Sons are generated by fathers. The Second Person of the Trinity would not be a Son if he were not generated by the First Person as his Father."

Thought exercise...

Think of how you talk to yourself in your head all the time. Do you remember when it began? Pretty early, right?  It’s your mind, and regardless of when you first remember using it, it was there from the beginning.  You could say your mind is a function of you. It has its existence in you. Now imagine, for a moment, if you found out that your inner communications was actually a way for your lower self (desires, control, ego) to “have it out” with your higher self (love, fairness, humility…). In a way, that’s like two people talking inside of us. Is it really so hard to take this another step and imagine God having conversations with the Son? …although I'd imagine they'd be far more interesting than our own. 

This may not be the best analogy, but remember we're trying to imagine something outside our finite understanding of things. It is meant to be a starting point. 

It only seems right to end with a Logos prayer, so I have adapted what I use to try and fit the bill. 

Lord Jesus Christ – Logos and Mind of the Father, Architect and Architecture of the Universe, Intermediator between the Creator and the created, the spiritual and physical, and God and man – how can we possibly thank you for emptying yourself of your pure Godhood to become one of us; to walk in our shoes; to teach us/show us personally; to suffer like us – nay, to suffer because of us; and, just when evil thought it had won, your love and forgiveness to the end defeated the finality of evil and reversed the fall of man. In doing so, you showed us, once again, how the Father allows humans free-will but then helps us turn suffering and adversity into something good; for by standing on the threshold of human death, you became a new doorway for the human race – a doorway accessible to us by the same humility, love, forgiveness, and freedom by which it was created; the freedom being to enter into a relationship with you that supersedes our relationship to this world. 

Lord, I thank you, I love you, I ask you for your forgiveness, and I welcome your love, your strength, and your assistance all the days of my life. 

I use the English version ‘Word’ when quoting scripture, although at times I use ‘Logos’ in my dialogue because a) it’s the original term used, and b) ‘Jesus’ is an earthly name he was given much later on our human timeline. I also realize our notion of Jesus is usually tied to his earthly life, so it’s hard to think outside that box, at least initially. But beware, I will use the terms ‘Logos,’ ‘Word,’ and ‘Jesus/Christ’ interchangeably.       

Here are the key opening lines in John 1: 

In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was through him that all things came into being, and without him nothing came to be. In him there was life, and that life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness, a darkness which was not able to overcome it. 

He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came unto his own, but his own accepted him not. But all those who did receive him, he empowered to become children of God, to them that believe in his name. 

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw his glory, the glory of which belongs to the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.” 

- John 1:1, 3-5, 10-14

Q: What is the meaning of these 3 statements the first verse:  In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

A: Keeping in mind that the Word (Logos) is Jesus (which is shown later in Verses 13-14), let’s review each phrase: 

1) The first phrase says that Jesus was present in the beginning of time.  Note that John is intentionally paralleling Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth…”  This means that Logos/Jesus was not created. He is eternal like God the Father. However, he is not only connecting Jesus to Genesis 1 because he was there, but also because John is calling attention to Logos’ accomplishment as Jesus Christ as a “new creation” for man. As Christ said in Rev 21:5: “Behold, I make all of creation new.”   Man gets a new beginning.  

2) The second phrase says Jesus was with God – they were together – which means that Jesus and God are in some way separate from each other. They are uniquely different.   

3) The third phrase, however, says that Jesus also “was God.”  How can this be, since phrase 2 just said they were separate?  

Since they are both God that means they are one “being” (God).  Since they are also unique/separate, we say they are different “persons.” As described in the Trinitarian Analogies, ‘being’ and ‘person’ are not the same thing (‘being’ is existence; ‘person’ is a unique identification).    

Q: What is the meaning of:  It was through him that all things came into being, and without him nothing came to be. 

A: This means that Jesus, in addition to being eternal like the Father, was central to the creation process itself.  What does that mean?  (Lord, forgive me if I over humanize this analysis!)  On one end of this creative equation we have God the Father who is pure being/existence (the I AM) and from which everything else gets their existence.  At the other end of this equation, we have Creation/the Universe. Then, in between God and Creation, we have Jesus/Logos who represents the creative transaction.  Perhaps better than ‘represents the creative transaction’ would be Jesus/Logos “IS” the creative transaction.     

Aristotle defines four causes for all things and, although he uses this for explaining the physical universe, it could apply to the spiritual realm also. 

If it is helpful to think in these terms and if we can apply them to creation (as proceeding from the spiritual to the physical), then God the Father would be # 1 and Logos-Jesus would be #2, the “Efficient Cause.” 

If Logos/Jesus is the Interface, so to speak, between God and Creation, this adds new meaning to Jesus’ statement in John 14:6: “I am the way… no man comes to the Father except through me.” 

Finally, just as a painting in many ways contains its creator, or a child contains his or her parents, everything in creation contains an aspect of God, the Creator – from particles of light and rocks to cells, trees, and humans. The higher the being, the more it resembles the Creator. 

So God is in all of us. This understanding gives new meaning to Jesus statement, “I am in the Father, you are in me, and I am in you.” (Jn 14:20) 

This leads us to make one large differentiation between creation as in the example of the artist and his painting (or in Aristotle’s 4 causes), and that is that humans are interactive within the creation they are in.  And because we have free will, God can’t finish the painting without us.      

Q: What is the meaning of:  In him there was life, and that life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness, a darkness which was not able to overcome it. 

A: After creation, the next order of business is… what? Life! All living things. However, there are also qualities of life. When Jesus talks about giving us life in abundance, he is talking about the life that is eternal, not temporary. 

Light… After life comes higher life, wherein the spiritual knowledge and truth of God may be recognized and understood by that life. It is to these higher beings that Jesus can become the Word of God truly. As the Mind and Wisdom of God, Jesus becomes our ultimate spiritual instructor. Furthermore, 

Darkness – refers to Man who is blind to the light and hope of God; it refers to the Fall of Man and those humans who choose to remain there because they have made themselves, or the world, their god. 

But the darkness is unable to overcome the light. This is darn “Good News.” It means God has found a way to throw humanity a life raft, even if they did nothing to deserve it. Logos/ Jesus is the Light who has been sent into the darkness.