Homily for the Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope & Doctor of the Church

In our Gospel passage today, Peter and his companions had labored all night and had caught nothing. All their work, it seemed, had been useless. They had done everything they could, but it was not enough. Something was missing.

Then Jesus entered the picture, and everything changed. Peter and his companions discovered the answer to their problems. They had been missing the most important ingredient of all; they had been missing the help and the power of God; they had been missing the help and the power of Jesus.

This story of Peter and his companions contains an important lesson for us: We all need God in our lives. All our human efforts to solve our problems, while necessary, are not enough. We need the power and the help of God in our lives and in our problems.

In turning to God in times of struggle, we discover that God wishes not only to bless us but also to bless us beyond our wildest dreams. God wishes to give to our lives a power and a fullness that exceed anything that we can imagine. And all we have to do is open our hearts to God's love, to let God's light shine on us, and to lower our nets to be filled. God will do all the rest. +