Daily Reflection Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Have you noticed how the Lectionary has been sending us on a gallery tour of all-things-Peter these past few weeks? Two weeks ago we read in John of Peter's call to follow Jesus; two Sundays ago we heard his confession "You are the Christ" and Jesus' fulsome affirmation "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." Last Sunday, in a swift change of scene and tone -- "Get behind me, Satan." -- Peter is rebuked for his small understanding of what 'Christ' will really mean. Yesterday's Gospel from Luke has Peter welcoming Jesus to his home in Capernaum, where his mother-in-law is one of many there who experience the compassion, mercy, and healing from Jesus. And today, fast forward to the Lake of Gennesaret, Peter encounters Jesus again and responds to the call to follow him in the intimacy of friendship and witness. 

The pairing of yesterday's and today's readings caught me by surprise, however. (A good reminder for me that Scripture is always a fresh reservoir of wisdom and insight if I am willing to let go of crusty understandings.) In Luke's telling, the cure of Peter's mother-in-law precedes the call of Peter (Simon) the fisherman. Had I noticed this before? My Catholic Study Bible has an explanation. The healing miracle has 'primed the pump' for Peter, creating the fertile ground at lake shore. Going against all his professional training and experience, he agrees to set out in the full light of day into the deeper waters where the bounty of the catch there will seize him with amazement. One miracle has opened the floodgates to what is possible, and nothing will ever be the same. He and his fellow laborers that day will leave all behind and follow this Jesus -- their surrender a miracle in equal measure, I dare say. But the greatest miracle is still ahead -- Jesus' own ultimate surrender, death, and resurrection and the forgiveness of Peter's betrayal that will launch him as Great Fisher of People and that promised rock of the early church.

I was reminded of the power of miracle as I watched recently the biographical documentary Still, which charts actor Michael J. Fox and his years-long struggles with Parkinson's disease. The 'Boy Prince of Hollywood', he was just two years into his marriage and a new father when he was diagnosed in 1991 at age 29. That his wife Tracy was faithful during the eventual collapse of his career as he knew it, through the bouts of depression and alcoholism and the physical debilitation -- this is a miracle to him more astonishing than any cure might ever have been.

"Annunciations are frequent; incarnations are rare." -- a favorite insight of mine. (I wish I could remember the source.) Where will we find the miracle of incarnation today? Let us keep alert... and start a chain reaction of mercy, compassion, and service that might astonish indeed.