Bill Platten gave the Witness Talk for the Men’s Morning of Spirituality 2013, at the Catholic Church of Incarnation in Collierville, TN. Watch the video as Bill shares insight on the Catholic activities in the Diocese of Memphis, as well as his personal witness to our Catholic Faith. Platten’s video will give you great ideas for piety, study and action.

Fellow Fishers,
Today’s Gospel (Mt 4:18-22) relates the story of Jesus asking Andrew and Peter to follow Him and become “Fishers of Men”. This is inspiring to all of us involved in the Fishers of Men movement but is only part of the story. Previously, John the Baptist had introduced Andrew to Jesus. Andrew promptly goes to get his brother Simon-Peter to follow Jesus with him. He literally brings his brother to Jesus. The act of bringing a brother to Jesus clearly describes our mission in an exciting way. Inviting a friend to a group meeting, to St. Leos lunch, or just to talk will help bring men to Jesus. As we learned in Cursillo, make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Christ. As we enter the Christmas season may we all pay particular attention to the men who the Holy Spirit puts in your life and be open to issuing God’s invitation to them.
Peace,
Bill Platten

(In John 1:35ff, John the Baptist was with his disciples. He tells them that Jesus is the “Lamb of God” (v. 36) and they stay with Jesus a while (v. 37). In John 1:40-42, Andrew goes and gets Simon-Peter and they follow Jesus. Why? Because Andrew had spent time with Jesus and told Simon that Jesus was the Messiah (v. 41). Later, in Matt. 4:18, Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and He sees Simon-Peter and Andrew as they were fishing. He had not asked them to follow Him until this point in verse 4:19. They do (4:20).)

http://carm.org/bible-difficulties/matthew-mark/where-did-jesus-first-meet-simon-peter-and-andrew

Dear Fellow Fishers, this homily by Archbishop Miller reminds us not only of our mission but of our heritage as “Fishers of Men”. Reading this will inspire you to redouble your efforts to practice our faith more fully and to reach out to other men. Lets go fishin’!!

Peace, Bill Platten

Men’s Conference

Centre for the Performing Arts

Dear brother priests, seminarians and candidates for the permanent

diaconate, and dear men of the Archdiocese of Vancouver:

Introduction

The Gospel we have just heard proclaimed presents us with one of

the boldest and most blundering men of the New Testament: the Apostle

Peter. He was a fisherman who provided for his family, passionate in

his preaching, adventuresome in taking the Gospel from Palestine to

Rome, and willing to face up to his failures, including the denial of his

Master. While it is true that only the Pope is the Successor of Peter, all

of us should see in this Galilean fisherman a model for living as a man

and as a disciple of Jesus.

Gospel Call of Peter

At this point in Luke’s Gospel, Peter had already begun to Jesus,

but the real starting point of his spiritual journey was his personal

encounter with the Lord. Like us, so often, he needed a second call, one

that was more direct, more personal, and more felt, before he was ready

It happened Simon Peter on an ordinary day, while he was busy

with his fisherman’s task of washing his nets by the lakeshore. Crowds

had gathered around Jesus to listen to him. So numerous were they that

the Lord saw two boats moored by the shore, left by the busy fishermen.

He commandeered one of them, which was Simon’s, and asked him to

put out a little from the land. Sitting on an improvised seat, Jesus began

to teach the crowds from the boat (cf. Lk 5:1-3). Thus, the boat of Peter

became the chair, the cathedra, of Jesus.

“Duc in Altum!”: “Put out into deep water”

When he had finished speaking, Jesus said to Simon: “Put out into

deep water and let down your nets for a catch” (Lk 5:4). And Simon

answered, after explaining a night passed without catching

anything, “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets” (Lk 5:5). Even

though Jesus was a carpenter by trade, and not a skilled fisherman, Peter

trusted this Teacher, but his trust was shaky.1

Peter’s Fear: “Go away from me”

Then followed a great surprise. The number of fish caught proved

to be enormous, far beyond any expectation. Oddly enough, Simon

Peter was not grateful, but full of dread when faced with the weight of

the miraculous catch of fish that was hauled in. It was causing the boats

to sink, and swamping him in the process! Such excess is often the case

with Jesus’ miracles. They point to liberality: “the divine largesse

seems foolish to human minds”2 – here, enough fish to flood two boats;

elsewhere, the abundance of the finest wine kept for the last at Cana or

the multiplication of the loaves in the wilderness with leftovers aplenty.

Peter was amazed – as we would be – but also fearful. He saw

himself being caught in the Lord’s net, and he was afraid: “Go away

from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk 5:8).

It is not difficult for me to imagine that you, too, have cried out

these same words, because you find it hard to believe that Jesus has

called you to personal relationship with him and called you to carry on

his work in the world. Like almost any man, Peter was ashamed of his

secrets and his wounds. He knew only too well his own humanness and

frailty; he knew he was as full of holes as a sponge. “Could he not have

chosen someone else, more capable, more holy? But Jesus has looked

lovingly upon each one of us, and in this gaze of his we may have

confidence.”3

We, too, are Peters: when we are faced by Jesus, when he casts his

commanding gaze upon us. Dear brothers, there is no shame in feeling

as Peter did when the Lord’s gaze penetrates our mind, our heart and

even the very marrow of our being. He also felt confused, unworthy,

even inadequate. But it was “precisely in this way, in the humility of

one who knows that he is a sinner, is he called.”4

Rather than be discouraged by our own lackluster performance, I

that we should in these feelings the foundation of a new undertaking,

something truly good. Indeed, it is spiritually necessary that we

recognize our sinfulness and even our smallness before the greatness of

the God. But that is only the first stop on the journey of discipleship.

Jesus’ Reply to Peter: “Do not be afraid”

To Peter’s plea that he just be left alone to sink into the water’s

depths, Jesus responds alright. The Lord knew his heart and he wanted

to free it from a paralyzing fearful anxiety. He also knew he wanted this

man, Simon Peter, some day to be the captain of his ship, the leader of

his disciples, the Rock-solid foundation of the future community of

believers. He foresaw Peter’s misplaced courage in the Garden of

Olives when he wielded his sword. And he foresaw that, in the

courtyard of the high priest, before the servant girl, Peter’s bravado

would collapse and he would declare that he didn’t know him.5

Even with all this in mind, Jesus did not reply roughly with

reproach for Peter’s lack of faith. Rather, he invited him to trust and to

be open to a project that would surpass all his expectations. “Do not be

afraid; from now on you will be catching people” (Lk 5:10).

Jesus’ Particular Call to Me

So it is when Jesus calls us: when he calls me, and when he calls

you to responsibility. The Lord calls us to a life mission far beyond the

assessment we make of our abilities. On Peter’s shoulders, Jesus laid

the burden of “catching people” (Lk 5:10). This was the moment of the

conferral of a mission to Peter.

The great theologian of the 19th century, Blessed John Henry

Newman, once wrote: “God has created me to do him some definite

service. He has committed some work to me which he has not

committed to another. I have my mission.”6

And what is God’s mission for you? What is he expecting and

wanting from you right now? That you live as a disciple not casually

but from conviction? That you place your wounds in his hands? If

married, that you be more engaged with your children, more protective

of your family? If unmarried, that you consider the call to the

priesthood? I can’t give you an answer to what your “definite service”

is, but I can tell how to find it out. By begging the Holy Spirit to

enlighten you and by being ready to accept wherever he is leading you

or whatever he is asking of you.

Jesus’ Mission for All of Us

Each one, then, has a definite service to give the Lord, one that is

unique and is no one else’s. But there is one mission that we share in

common. Today too we are all, each one of us, told to cast out our nets,

so as to win men and women over to the Gospel – to God, to Christ, to

true life. In the opening homily of his pontificate, this is what the Holy

Father said about letting down our nets and becoming fishermen:

for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the

sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human

food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse

is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of

suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The

net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and

brings us into the splendour of God’s light, into true life. It

is really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to be fishers

of men, we must bring men and women out of the sea that is

salted with so many forms of alienation and onto the land of

life, into the light of God. It is really so: the purpose of our

lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seen

does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in

Christ do we know what life is. . . . There is nothing more

beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter

with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know

Him and to speak to others of our friendship with him.7

This was Jesus’ great challenge. Just as he comforted Peter with

confidence in him that he could be a great Apostle, so, too, he says to us

takes us: “Do not be afraid! I am with you. I will not abandon you, do

not leave me!” “Faith in Jesus, Son of the living God, is the means

through which, time and again, we can take hold of Jesus’ hand and in

which he takes our hands and guides us.”8

Peter would never have imagined that he would be a “fisher of

men” for the Lord and one day even arrive in Rome where he would

shed his blood for love of Christ. He accepted his surprising call and let

himself be involved in this great adventure: he was generous; he

recognized his limits but believed in the One who was calling him and

followed him with determination and zeal for souls. He said “yes,” a

courageous and generous “yes”, and became a disciple of Jesus and a

proclaimer of the Good News by the integrity of his life and by his

willingness to accept the cost and consequences of following his Lord.9

Dear brothers: after the providential gift of this Men’s Conference,

now is the time to be inspired by a new energy for living as Jesus wants

you to. What will you do to further the mission of Christ and the

The time in which we live requires heroic Catholic men, not casual

Catholics. We can no longer be Catholics merely by convention but

instead we must be Catholics by conviction.

In our own families, in our parishes, where we live and where we

work – like the Apostle Peter – we must be bold witnesses to the

Lordship of Jesus Christ. We must be a fearless army of Catholic men,

ready to give everything we have for the Lord, who gave everything for

In order to accomplish our “definite service” and our common

mission I want to place before you three exit challenges. First, make the

sacrament of Confession an integral part of your life – not just a yearly

or bi-annual event – but a monthly practice. It will keep you honest,

healed and holy. Second, take up the practice of reading a short passage

from the New Testament every day and praying with it for a while.

Don’t try to read too much. I would suggest you start with one of

Gospels. And there’s no rush to finish. And third, make it your

intention to bring one friend who has lapsed in his practice of the faith

back to Christ and to the Church. Don’t nag him, but be courageous –

and be ready to give an account of why you believe.

And may Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who watched over the

Apostles in the Upper Room as they awaited together the coming of the

Holy Spirit, keep watch over you as you become her Son’s witnesses

here in our Archdiocese and, yes, even “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

 

J. Michael Miller, CSB

Archbishop of Vancouver

 

notes:

1 – Cf. Benedict XVI, General Audience (17 May 2006).
2 – Hans Urs von Balthasar, You Have the Words of Eternal Life: Scripture Meditations (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1991), 208.
3 – Benedict XVI, Address to the Clergy, Warsaw (25 May 2006).
4 – Benedict XVI, Homily, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (21 April 2011).
5 – Benedict XVI, Homily, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (21 April 2011).
6 – John Henry Newman, Meditations and Devotions: “Hope in God – Creator” (7March 1848).
7 – Benedict XVI, Homily at the Mass for the Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome (24 April 2005).
8 – Benedict XVI, Homily at the Chrism Mass (13 April 2006).
9 – Benedict XVI, General Audience (17 May 2006).

Fishers of Men were there to Help

During the week of June 10-17, 306 inspired Catholic teenagers and adult leaders focusing on 42 worksites in and around the city of Memphis, loving and serving our city and the residents that they worked with. These “campers” participated in the Catholic Heart Work Camp, celebrated being Catholic and became more engaged in practicing their faith than many adults ever will.

Imagine the harvest we will have when the thousands of seeds that were planted last week start to bear fruit in the hearts of every person involved. God was present that week in a very tangible way and stories of minor miracles and major changes of heart abound.

The Fishers of Men were very visible in their support:

• Phil Moore and his wife Shona indentified work sites in Fayette County and obtained the material needed to help the residents.
• Bill Platten and his wife Rene’ were co-managers of the camp and organized the work sites, transportation, safety and comfort of the campers.
• Tom Wilson and Roger Eddleman, the CHWC trouble shooters, worked with several work teams by giving them advice, tools, physical assistance, and the confidence needed to complete seemingly impossible tasks.

This is a great example of men becoming more engaged in their faith trying to live out the commandment to love others. In every FOM group there are many examples of men reaching out to make a difference in the name of Jesus.

Praise God for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 

Link to Catholic Heart Workcamp: http://www.heartworkcamp.com/cities/Memphis/Memphis,TN.htm

Link to Catholic Heart Workcamp Pictures: http://www.heartworkcamp.com/interact/photos/Memphis/index.html