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Pope Francis: Jesus wants to enter our emptiness

The pope noted that sometimes, because of our sins, we feel unworthy of the Lord

When all your efforts feel futile and leave you disappointed and empty, Jesus wants to be close to you, Pope Francis said on Sunday.

In his public message on Feb. 6, the pope said: “Every day the boat of our life leaves the shores of our home to go out into the sea of daily activities; every day we try to ‘fish in deep water,’ to cultivate dreams, to carry out projects, to live love in our relationships.”

“But often, like Peter, we experience the ‘night of empty nets’ — the night of empty nets — the disappointment of working so hard and not seeing the desired results,” Francis continued, speaking from a window of the Vatican which overlooks St. Peter’s Square.

The Lord loves to surprise us, he stated. He loves “to get into the boat of our lives when we have nothing to offer him; to enter our emptiness and fill it with his presence; to make use of our poverty to proclaim his wealth, of our miseries to proclaim his mercy.”



Before reciting the Angelus, a traditional Marian prayer, Pope Francis reflected on the day’s Gospel reading, which recounts the moment when Jesus was preaching, surrounded by a crowd of people. Jesus sees the fishing boat of Simon Peter, and enters the boat to continue teaching the crowds gathered on the shore.

The Gospel of Luke says: “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.”

Like with St. Peter, previously called Simon, Jesus wants to be close to us, no matter what situation we are in, Pope Francis said.

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“Let us remember this: God does not want a cruise ship; a poor, ‘ramshackle’ boat is enough for him, as long as we welcome him,” he emphasized.

“But do we — I ask myself — let him get in the boat of our life? Do we make available to him the little we have?”

The pope noted that sometimes, because of our sins, we feel unworthy of the Lord. “But this is an excuse that the Lord does not like, because it distances him from us,” Francis said. “He is the God of closeness, of compassion, of tenderness, and he does not seek perfectionism: He seeks reception.”

“If we welcome the Lord into our boat, we can put out to sea. With Jesus, we sail the sea of life without fear, without giving in to disappointment when one catches nothing, and without surrendering to [the idea that] ‘there is nothing more to do,’” he said.

According to Pope Francis, there is always something beautiful and courageous which can be done, in our own lives and in the life of the Church and of society.

“We can always start over, the Lord always invites us to get back in the game, because he opens up new possibilities. So let us accept the invitation: Let us chase away pessimism and mistrust and put out to sea with Jesus. Even our little empty boat will witness a miraculous fishing,” he said.

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