Depart From Me, Lord

Depart from me, Lord.
Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.
Why have you come to me? Why have you called me?
You know me. You’ve searched me . . .
And so you already know there’s nothing that you will find in me.
I have nothing to offer you.
Only weakness. Weakness and sin.
All night I have worked, and I have caught nothing.
(I lost whatever I did catch.)
All night I have worked, and I have caught nothing.
I have accomplished nothing.
So what then have you to do with me? Why do you call me?
Haven’t I already proved to you that I am unfit?
And so I can do nothing but bid you: depart from me!

But then I hear you say:
Do not be afraid.
Do not be afraid. I will make you a fisher of men.
Just as you have caught these fish,
You have really caught these fish.
Or do you doubt that too?
Was it not you who threw the net in?
Isn’t that sweat on your brow?
Isn’t your back now sore and strained from this haul?
And are these not a thousand fish filling your boat?
Do not then be afraid.
Don’t fear what you can’t do, but believe in what I can do—
I can make you catch these fish.
I will make you a fisher of men.

✠

Republished with gracious permission from Dominicana (November 2025). 

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Image: Raphael, The Miraculous Draft of Fishes