Sermon (2019/02/10)

That story fits in beautifully with today’s gospel. It illustrates a point that we need to hear again and again in life. It illustrates a point that we must see dramatized over and over in life. It illustrates the point that perseverance is one of the greatest powers in the world. Peter and his friends had fished all night without success. Had it not been for Jesus’ words to them, that’s the way their effort for that day would have ended. But Jesus persuaded them to try one more time. They did, and we know what happened. That one more try made the difference between success and failure. The story of Peter and his friends illustrates a further point. It is this: Jesus became involved in the process, and that’s when things changed. The previous castings of the net – perhaps 20 or 30 in the course of the night – were done on their own. But in the final casting, Jesus became involved. And that’s when things took a 180-degree turn. That’s when things exceeded their wildest dream.

Keeping that in mind, let’s return to the story of the girl in Nashville. Whatever happened to her? The same thing happened to her that happened to Peter and his friends. Something happened that exceeded her wildest dream. The girl began not only to walk without braces but even to run. And she ran, and ran, and ran. At the age of sixteen, this incredible girl qualified for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, and went on to win a bronze medal in the women’s 400-meter relay. And four years later, in the 1960 Olympics at Rome, she became the first woman in history to win three gold medals in track and field. That girl was none other than Wilma Rudolph. Wilma came home to a ticker-tape parade and a private audience with President Kennedy. She was given the Sullivan Award, naming her the nation’s top amateur athlete.

Another example of perseverance is America’s greatest inventor, Thomas Edison. He was frequently teased that thousands of his experiments ended in failure. To these critics Edison answered: “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” His thousands of unsuccessful experiments were not in vain. We cannot even imagine what our life would be today without his inventions. Edison have created the first commercially practical incandescent light, the electric bulb. Besides that, he is credited also with developing scores of other devices as electric power generation, sound recording, mimeograph, motion pictures, just to mention a few.  

As we’ve seen, Wilma Rudolph is a living example of the power of perseverance. She is a tribute to the power and potential of the human spirit. Her life dramatizes that no handicap – no matter how great – is a match for perseverance and prayer. Put those two things together, perseverance and prayer, if it be God’s will, the result can exceed our wildest dream, just as it also did for Peter and his friends.

We learn the same lesson from the Bible. Psalm 127 teaches us the absolute need of prayer, of God’s help and blessing on our endeavors. The Psalmist says: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build. Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch. It is vain for you to rise early and put off your rest at night, to eat bread earned by hard toil / all this God gives to His beloved in sleep” (Psalm 127:1-2).

Ray Kroc, the genius and driving force behind the McDonald fast-food empire, put perseverance, or persistence, near the top of the ladder of human powers. He wrote: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent.” Add to persistence and determination the power of prayer, and you have a combination that is unbeatable.

Today’s gospel invites us to do two things. First it invites us to do what Peter and his friends did. It invites us to persevere in our efforts in life. After recasting the nets 20 or 30 times, Peter could have given up on catching anything. But he didn’t give up. He recast the net one final time, and that spelled the difference between success and failure.

Second, today’s gospel invites us to involve Jesus in our efforts in life. It was when Jesus entered the picture that Peter and his friends succeeded. They not only succeeded: They exceeded their wildest dream. It was the same with Wilma Rudolph. It can also be the same for each of us.

As a conclusion, let us turn to a great saint who himself can be considered a model a perseverance. One of his famous quotes says, “Pray as if God will take care of all; act as if all is up to you.” This saint is St. Ignatius of Loyola who, in the middle of the 16th century when the Catholic Church was in the midst of the turmoil caused by the Protestant Reformation, founded a religious order that, beginning with just a small group of friends, by time, became the largest religious order of men in the world, the Society of Jesus also called Jesuits. St. Ignatius composed this famous prayer of generosity: “Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for reward, except to know that I am doing your will.”

Amen.

Rev. Julius Leloczky, O.Cist