3.Sunday A Mt 4,12-23

 I supposed to do with people of one sect?” Asked the calm Elder Roman. “They still come to my house, ring at the door until I open them. I barely let them in, they start preaching, and they can’t be stopped. I was angry once, ‘Why don’t you leave me alone?’ But they did not say: We are sent by Christ to be fishers of men. ‘Is it the mission in the Gospel that way? “

The fishermen we see by our rivers are among the most peaceful people in the world. They sit down on the water, put the bait on the pole, throw it into the water, and wait patiently for a fish to be enticed to come alone. So, the fisherman does not go to the fish, but the fish come to him. In this way, we speak of spiritual fishing of the apostolate of the Eastern monks. They did not go to the places; they did not swing on the door. They lived alone in the mountains. But over time, the rumor of their perfection spread throughout the world, and people began to follow them. Sometimes it cost the effort, the long and the hard way. I was behind one such hermit in the Romanian forests. They took me by car halfway but then had to walk up a steep path up to his cottage. But such an apostle does not annoy people but rather annoyed him.

And what attracts them there? One of the popular Russian saints, Seraphim Sarovsky, was of the same type: hermit and even style. At the time of the Napoleonic wars, he spent a thousand nights on a big rock to pray for the fallen and suffering from that time. But people began to flock to him from afar. The professor of theology also came and seemed obnoxious to him. What are they looking for in a person who has no education? He told him himself. The answer was nice: “People in towns have everything. But they don’t have peace, inner peace. Get peace, and there will be thousands around you!”

This way of the apostolate, “fishing people,” is inherent in the whole Church. Heidegger has set three stages, three stages, as one approaches religious life. The first is the aesthetic stage. A person from the world may only come to Church by chance. The air is quite different from the one he breathed so far. He discovers that there is something other than what he has seen so far. Beautiful is what points into the distance. Church chants, liturgy, reading the Bible, all convey the experiences hitherto unknown. It will awaken the desire to get acquainted with the world, to penetrate it. It’s a start, but for many people, it takes a long, almost lifetime. They go to Church; they are interested in religious literature, church history, and art. It’s not hypocritical. It is a sincere belief that there is some other higher reality besides the weekdays. It’s admirable. Why deny her? Why cut her out of society? People of this kind cannot understand atheists who are fighting religion. What hinders you? The last question hides the weakness of this degree of faith. What hinders you? In the aesthetic stage, one does not confront, does not compare his own life with what he admires. He listens with enthusiasm to Mozart’s Requiem but does not think of death or repentance. He wouldn’t realize it until one day. He discovers that he is a believer, but not a practitioner, that life does not correspond to what he preaches. This is the second stage of spiritual life, which Heidegger calls “moral.” Confessing religion here means trying to live by its principles. The Gospel is believed by the one who takes it as the principle of its action. If he wants to apply that effort to himself, he becomes a model believer, perhaps an ascetic. They point to him as a model, an example. But at this stage, the prophetic mission is easily awakened. He sees that most people do not live by the Gospel. Why not remind them or even chastise them? Why not threaten them with God’s punishment for the hypocrisy they have fallen on? This was the mission of the Bible prophets. But is it given to everyone? The Bible prophets began their preaching with the words: “This is what the Lord says … the Lord sends me to speak, puts his words in my mouth …” God. The one who sends himself is not sent by God. However, such “apostles” are problematic. However, there is another danger to this moral stage. A person who strives to uphold moral rules will easily believe that he is one of the few righteous in the world. In a way, he repeats the Pharisee’s prayer.” God, thank you for not being like other people; blackmailed, unjust, adulterers, or even this customs officer. As Jesus praised him, we know. He preferred the shark. Why? Heidegger points out that after these nod stage morals, a third must come, which is truly religious. It is the realization that God is the Father, a living person who speaks to us and us to him. The word religion itself suggests that It indicates to God that there is a dialogue that takes place in prayer. Then the prayers repentant in the first place, the prayer of the public. God be merciful to me sinful. Ok 18,13. It is easy to apologize before the law. But who dares to praise the living person of God himself? We pray for ourselves, but we also pray for others. It is impossible to pray without love, and love wants the good of all. Therefore, every prayer, even if not, is quite private and, for a personal thing, prays in the core for all good habits. Sometimes they ask. Was that mass solely for me? The answer is. She was for the whole world, for all people, but we have recommended your personal intentions in particular. Prayer is, therefore, an apostate. It resembles a large net in which the Church still includes much fish in history. Those who pray are apostles, fishermen in the spiritual sense of the word. We observe its effectiveness from  specially. One mother complained that growing -up son, a student had stopped going to Church, and when he started talking to him about God, he would cut off ugly.He priest gave her this advice. “Stop talking to the boy about God and often talk to God about a boy. It took a long time, but eventually, the women admitted it worked. However, the apostolate of the word is also important in the Church. It’s a prophetic office. This requires God’s mission. Does everyone have it at any place?. It is necessary to think about this when we hear various self-proclaimed apostles, but even we hear those whom we are sure the Church sends them for Christ.