"I will make you fishers of people"-- that's what Jesus says in today's Gospel (Mk 1: 14-20). Ok, the translation we have says fishers "of men," but Jesus isn't speaking in a gendered sense, and our language has evolved faster than our translations. "Men" used to mean "humans" or "people," but now it seems to more-often mean "males" and that wasn't what Jesus had in mind-- so let's say "fishers of people." It is true that Jesus prediction is made in the specific context of Simon and Andrew, whom Jesus calls to be His disciples as they are fishing, literally casting their nets into the sea. But we are all called to be Jesus' disciples, just like Simon and Andrew, and Jesus' words ought to apply just as much to us as they do to Simon and Andrew. So what does it mean to be "fishers of people" and are we becoming that? What comes to mind when we consider fishing? What are the virtues, the attributes, that people who are good at fishing have, and thus that we need to have, if we are to be good at fishing for people? The first thing that comes to mind for me is patience. I have a grandson who is a muskie fisherman. He'll spend all summer trying to catch one, and they say you need a hundred casts or more to even get a bite. We went up to Lake Mille Lacs last summer to fish for muskies (and small mouth bass) and spent three days. Caught a lot of "smallies", but didn't even see a muskie. But that was ok, because it goes with the territory. If you're fishing for muskie you have to be patient. Bringing people to Christ requires that same sort of patience. If you try to rush the process, it won't go well. It may take years, and that's ok. Push too hard, and you'll get nothing. The other thing that comes immediately to mind when you think about fishing is all the gear that you need, especially the lures. You can't catch fish the right fish without the right bait. You need to attract them-- maybe even get they angry-- to get them to bite. The things you use are called "lures" for a reason, after all. If we are going to fish for people, we need to use attraction as well. We'll never succeed in "catching" people if we're grumpy, negative, unhappy people who go around complaining about the world and playing the victim. I see that so often in the Church these days-- people who are moaning about how terrible the secular world is, and listing all the things that have gone wrong, and generally acting in a funk. Who wants to join a group of people like that? What makes someone think those kinds of attitudes are attractive? Would a fish bite a hook baited with something that seemed so negative? Finally, if you're going to be good at fishing, you have to study- learn where to fish for a particular species, what conditions are right for the fish to bite, what sky cover, water temperature, wind direction and all the rest will result in success. My two sons and grandson and I fished in Canada a couple of years ago, and we found one spot where you could catch all the 22-inch walleyes you wanted (we probably caught 50 in less than an hour). It was a little bay into which the wind had been blowing for a couple of hours, driving all the bait fish in. By mid-afternoon, with the sun angle right so that the fish wouldn't see the boat, and the wind blowing as it was, it was the perfect place for a big school of walleyes to be hanging out-- and they were. Of course, there is always some luck involved. We happened to have the right bait, and we caught a fish quickly when we tried the spot, so that gave us some confidence to stay there. But our study and awareness of how walleyes function sure helped. We need to do that too, if we're going to be good at fishing for people. We need to reflect on how people operate, on what works. We need to know what we're doing-- what the Church teaches, what the Scriptures say, what it is that people are yearning to hear and know. And finally we need God's grace. Just like fishing always involves some luck, we can't do anything without God's grace, something for which we can and should always ask. How is your fishing going?