The central message this week-end is very clear. God, in the person of Jesus, equips us and gives us gifts. Furthermore, God’s gifts to us are not private or secret. We are asked to tell everyone about God’s goodness.

The story in St Luke’s Gospel today is about three exhausted fishermen, Peter, James and John, having a huge haul of fish because of the intervention of Jesus. The power of Jesus frightens them and the Lord says “Do not be afraid”. As followers of Jesus, we have absolutely nothing to fear. We have been gifted by God and, hence, we are fearless about life’s ups and downs and we are ever fearless about death. As St Paul wrote,

With God on our side, who could be against us

We are invited to heed the words of Jesus; words that are repeated often

Do not be afraid