GUESS WHO'S THE BAIT?

We are all called to be carpenters in the sense that we are to be bridge builders between one another. That is especially true these days when it seems that the divide is so great that building a bride is well nigh impossible. And if it seems impossible, we usually do not make any effort to even try to start building that bridge. Yet, whether we like it or not, and, of course, we really do not, as Christians that is our responsibility.

But how do we do this? How do we even start when the task seems to be so great, so difficult, when it seems that it will be a waste of time because we will be rejected? It seems to me that in this task we must, along with our carpenter’s hat, put on another hat, if you will. That is the hat of a fisherman.

During the last few weeks I have been thinking about this notion that each of us is called in and through our baptism to be carpenters to build bridges but also to be fishermen, to fish for others and bring them to the faith. I have been reflecting on the fact that most of us, perhaps all of us, are, in fact, if the truth were told, reluctant fisherman. It occurs to me that there is one hard and constant fact why this is true. I will get to that in a moment.

I'm not a fisherman, but I do know that the fishermen I know go to great lengths to use the right bait to catch whatever fish it is they happen to be pursuing at the moment. I have seen tackle boxes that are awash with some of the most magnificent colors under the rainbow and stuffed with the most wondrous lures one can imagine -- all in pursuit of an elusive fish. True fishermen, it seems, will expend no amount of time or money to land that big one.

Should not that same philosophy be ours as Christian fishermen? Of course! But why the reluctance? It seems to be that there is one over-riding and all-abiding reason why we are reluctant fisherman. We have discovered what the bait is or, perhaps better, who is the bait. We are! Each of us is the bait. Each of us is that lure that entices others to come and see what we have found. Or we are not.

Fish, I understand, usually do not chase after false bait. There has to be some allure to the lure or else they will swim away no matter how hungry they are. The same analogy holds, I believe, when it comes to our faith. If we are the bait that attracts others to the faith, our way of life must be so enticing that someone will grab the hook. For that person to grab hook, line and sinker, the bait has to be overwhelming. We will have to overwhelm the other by the way we live out our faith in Jesus.

Somewhere deep down inside we know that. That frightens us because we do not think it is possible. But it is. Unlike those tackle boxes filled with exotic and expensive lures, our box seems to be filled only with common worms. But worms catch fish and that’s all that matters. Catching others by the way we live out our life of faith is the way bridges are built and probably the only way bridges are built.

We are the bait. Others come to Jesus only through us. Think what it would/could be like if we were more -- and constantly -- aware of this truth! Have a Blessed and Bait-full New Year.