Lord, what must I leave to follow you?

"'Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man'...'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" (cf Luke 5:1-11).

This weekend, Deacon Rolling issued a challenge to all of us: he challenged us to read this weekend's Gospel each day this week - then to ask ourselves, "What must I leave behind, Lord, in order to follow you?" You see, in this Gospel, Peter and James and John leave EVERYTHING they have - their boats and livelihood and even family - to follow Jesus. So many times, being a disciple of Christ requires the same of us - there are things or habits or sins that we must "leave behind" in order to faithfully follow Christ and witness to Him by our lives. That Gospel is printed here in its entirety to help you pray it each day this week.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke:

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.

The Gospel of the Lord