Why did Simon ask Jesus to depart from him?

Thursday, 9/6/18

Jonah and Zebedee were a pair of fishermen who, in Our Lord's time, teamed up to work long seining nets on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Jonah was aided by his sons, Simon and Andrew ,

Thursday, 9/6/18

Jesus came upon two fishermen who teamed up fishing with seining nets on the north snore of the Sea of Galille. Jonah was assisted by his two sons, Simon and Andrew. while Zebedee was assisted by his sons, James and John.

In today's Gospel, Jesus, followed by a crowd, was strolling along the shore when he came on the  four boys mending their net. Stopping by them, Jesus told the boys to pull off from  the shore to lower their net. Simon said, "There are no fish out there. We have worked the whole night through, catching nothing

The four boys were dead tired after their unsuccessful night, but the strong personality of Jesus was overpowering, so they pulled out into the deep where they made the biggest catch ever, causing Simon to say, "Depart from me. Lord, for I am a sinful man."

Let me pass on to an altogether different time and place. In September 1952, I had just decided on entering the seminary to become a priest. Then,  two of my grade school classmates, Len and Matt announced they were entering the seminary too.

For twenty years our parish had benefitted from a holy Irish pastor who never socialized with  any  parishioners. On that September evening, Matt and Len and I had just finished serving Benediction, when the pastor surprised us by asking usto sit down and chat with him.

He had brought us around to today's Gospel, when he stunned us with the kind of insight that clergy
passed around between themselves.

Father confided in us, "Simon's reason  for telling Jesus to depart from him was that he was anxious to sell that huge catch of fish, because he was looking forward to the pile of money he'd earn by selling them.