Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

I’m sure we all know that feeling of simply being tired at the end of the day. But I think tiredness comes in two different varieties, and it matters which one we are experiencing.

There is the tiredness that comes from a successful day. The things I was trying to accomplish were accomplished—or at least I made progress—and now I’m tired. My body is simply tired from doing it all.

Then there is the tiredness of failure: everything I attempted today has failed. Nothing is better. My life is objectively worse at the end of the day, and I am tired.

That second kind is much harder, because the exhaustion is physical and mental, and sometimes it even carries an element of despair: the sense that the whole day was wasted and that anything else would have been a better use of my time.

That is the kind of tiredness Peter is experiencing in this moment—the tiredness of failure. He tells the Lord that they have worked all night and caught nothing. The exhaustion is not simply from having been out fishing; it is from having nothing to show for it. He has nothing to take to market, nothing to sell, and nothing with which to feed his family. The entire effort has been a failure. Anything else he could have done with that time would have seemed a better use.

That is Peter’s experience when the Lord comes to him and says, “Row out there and try again.”

And we all know, from having our own days of failure, that “Cheer up and try again” is the last thing we want to hear. It never helps us.

And yet, it seems like that is what the Lord tells Peter in this moment. Peter obeys, and he catches all those fish. Then the Lord tells him that from now on he will be fishing for people.

I think the Lord chooses this moment intentionally—a moment when Peter has had no success in fishing—to reveal what Peter will do in the future. I think the Lord is warning him through the scene itself: “This is what your ministry will be like. You will have many days when you try to preach the Gospel and draw people into God’s kingdom, and you will meet failure after failure after failure.”

But despite all those failures, the Lord will keep calling to you. You will keep hearing him tell you, “Go out and try again,” before you finally find that success.

So the message for us is not merely, “Don’t worry about failure; keep trying.” It is this: even in the midst of failure, continue listening for the Lord, because he may speak to you.

And when he speaks—when he tells you to row out into the deep water and cast your net again—that is the only legitimate choice to make in that moment.

No matter how many failures you have experienced up to that point, simply row out and cast the net again, because success is now ready. That is the message.

It is not, “Don’t worry about failure; keep trying.” It is, “In the midst of failure, keep listening.”

And when the Lord speaks, obey him.

When things seem to be at their worst, he speaks to us. If we listen to him, we will finally find what we are looking for and draw closer to our Lord.