"I am a sinful man," Peter says when asking Jesus to leave his presence in today's Gospel (Lk 5: 1-11).  Jesus has just directed Peter and his fellow fishermen to cast their nets in a certain place and, while the crews had fished all night and caught nothing, to humor Jesus, it seems, they go ahead and do what He asks, only to make the catch of a lifetime.
         Peter and the others presumably have listened to Jesus' teaching, but they clearly only understand with whom they are dealing when they observe the remarkable catch. 
          "Astonishment at the catch of the fish they had made seized him," Luke tells us about Peter, leading Peter to call Jesus, "Lord," and to proclaim his own sinfulness.  
         Interestingly, Jesus does not dispute Peter's assertion.  The fact that Peter was "sinful" doesn't seem either to surprise or to bother Jesus.  Rather Jesus says what He says so often: "Do not be afraid."
         Of course Peter was a sinful man.  He couldn't perfectly follow the 613 rules of Mosaic law.  No one could.  The fact that Peter focuses on his sinfulness in the presence of Jesus suggests that Peter carried a good deal of guilt around about the fact of his failures.
          We're like Peter, I suppose.  We're sinful in that we can't do what Jesus tells us to do.  After all, Jesus took the Jewish law and raised is up several notches.  We can't possibly harbor any illusions that we can meet the standard Jesus articulates. We can easily accumulate a lot of good old-fashioned "Catholic guilt" along the way.
          But the point is that Jesus doesn't let the fact of our sinfulness stand in the way.  He says, in essence, "I don't care about that.  Don't be afraid.  Just go ahead and do the best you can at bringing folks into the Kingdom of Heaven."
          That is not to say that sin doesn't matter.  Of course it does.  But sin separates us from the Divine only if we choose that path.  Jesus won't leave us, even if in our guilt we ask Him to do that. 
           After we throw ourselves on our knees, as Peter did, and acknowledge our failings, Jesus tells us to stand up, and get to work. 
           And the really good news is that He also gives us the strength to do what needs to be done-- if we will only ask Him for it.