Into the Deep

Mission Blog Preview, Sunday, September 7, 2025

A rainy Sunday morning in New York City.  This coming Friday, September 12, our band of joyful missionaries will set out once more “into the deep”:  the streets of SoHo for the annual San Genaro Festival.  This street fair carries on an ancient tradition carried to Little Italy by the Italian immigrants from Naples, who each year celebrate the feast day of Saint Januarius, the patron saint of Naples and later, Little Italy NYC. 

Saint Januarius, the bishop of Naples, was martyred in 305 AD during the last great Roman persecution, led by the Emperor Diocletian.  Januarius  was beheaded for refusing to deny Christ, and the blood that spewed from his severed neck was collected in a vial by his brothers in Christ.  To this day, that blood liquifies from time to time, often on the first Sunday of May, when his body was transferred to the Cathedral, and again on September 19, the anniversary of his martyrdom.  (Incidentally, Evelyn and I personally witnessed this miracle which happened completely by surprise during our visit there several years ago.)

San Genaro was an example to all Christians for his willingness to follow Christ “into deep water” (Lk 5:4), just as Jesus had ordered Peter to do when he first called him as an Apostle, along the shores of Lake Galilee after a long night of catching nothing.   Despite “knowing” that there were no fish out in the lake this particular morning, Peter went anyway.  He pushed out into the deep.  And then, a miracle happened.

Peter caught so many fish that the catch nearly sunk both his own boat and his partner’s.

That same miracle happened for San Genaro; he pushed out into the deep.  And though he lost his head, he gained eternity.  And seven years later, a new Emperor took the throne following his against-all-odds victory at Battle of the Milvian Bridge.  That Emperor,  Constantine, legalized Christianity throughout the empire and the era of the great early Christian persecutions abruptly ended.

Going out “into deep water” implies more than just responding to the basic call of discipleship:  following the “rules”, loving our neighbor, loving God.  Doing all that is challenging enough, but eventually, doing “just enough” is not enough.  We can begin to stagnate, to grow complacent.  We can begin to feel like we are just treading water in our Faith.  That’s when Jesus challenges us to dig deep, and do more.  To step out one foot further than we believe we can, and then to press on—into the deep.

That’s when he asks us to be a missionary in the streets of SoHo.

For most of us mortals, pressing on into the deep, if we have a reasonable assessment of our skills, talents and abilities, can seem like a suicide mission.  We know what we can do, and we know what we can’t.  And standing on a street corner in SoHo looking for Catholics are there way to the sausage and pepper stand doesn’t qualify.  This is where Jesus comes in.

When Peter, much to his own surprise, experiences the miraculous catch of fish, he understands for the first time that his success was not due to himself.  It was due to Jesus.  It’s Jesus who caught those fish, not Peter.  And it’s Jesus who will be catching souls, through we missionaries, out in So Ho this Friday. 

Because when Jesus is with us, everything is possible.  And that’s when we understand at a deeper level the true meaning of those words he spoke to Peter out on the shores of Lake Galilee that morning:

“Do not be afraid.  From now on, you will become fishers of men.” (Lk 5:11)

Join us, and San Genaro, this Friday in SoHo--following in Peter’s steps.

A missionary

September 7, 2025