Luck of the Irish

Seeing luck as an expression of God’s providential love

03/17/2025

Luke 5:1-11 While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." Simon said in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets." When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

I hate to admit this but I am a fan of the “Deadpool” movies. If you have watched them, you probably felt like you needed to go to confession afterwards, like I did. But I was fascinated by one character in Deadpool 2 named Dominio because her superpower was “luck.” She really should have been called “Lady Luck.”

Whenever she was fighting a bad guy some chance or accidental event would occur saving her and simultaneously killing the bad guy. At first sight “being lucky” sounds like the worst kind of superpower someone could wield. But as the movie goes on you realize how valuable “being lucky" really is.

I mention the superpower of luck today on the feast of St. Patrick because the Irish are famously known for being lucky. We say, “Ah, the luck of the Irish.” But the real Irish are deeply Catholic, and they would not call their superpower “luck” but rather “providence,” or “relying on God’s will” to save them.

In a sense, the greatest superpower is total reliance on God’s love and wisdom to guide not only the whole universe, but also to guide our individual lives as well. The wider world may call fortunate happenstance “luck,” but we Christians know to call it “divine providence,” or better “divine love.”

In the gospel today Jesus calls St. Peter through a dramatic catch of fish. Jesus says to the fisherman – words that will have a far-reaching meaning in the history of Christianity – “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” And even though Simon Peter objects at first, he relents and obeys. After the miraculous catch of fish, St. Peter immediately perceives the hand of God at work and exclaims: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

In other words, outside observers that day may have thought, “Wow, what a lucky catch of fish!” But St. Peter thought, “Wow, what a demonstration of divine providence,” and committed his life to trusting that providential love. For people of faith, luck is really love: God’s love guiding our lives.

You probably know the rough contours of the story of St. Patrick. You better know it because you attend a church originally named St. Patrick’s. But as a young boy he grew up in England and was captured by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. He lived there for 6 years as an animal herder. He escaped and returned to England to become a priest, but then returned to preach and teach in Ireland.

That is, Patrick saw his escape from Ireland not as something extremely lucky, but something extremely providential; a sign from God that he had been put in Ireland for a purpose, namely, evangelization. Patrick, like Peter, did not interpret lucky coincidences as their superpower but rather the unfolding of history as an expression of God’s superpower called providence, guiding the course of events. Hence, they trusted that loving providence entirely, and built their lives upon it as a foundation.

Let me share a final anecdote about luck that really turns out to be love. The history book about our parish is called “From the Foundation Up”. There we find the story – maybe legend – of how our parish went from being called “St. Patrick’s” to “Immaculate Conception.” Have you ever wondered how that happened? In the 1860’s, Fr. Lawrence Symth traveled to Rome and had the occasion to meet the pope, the very intimidating Pope Pius IX.

In Italian his name translated as “Pio Nono” and that was appropriate because he always said, “Not only “no” but heck no!” Fr. Smyth stood very nervously in line as the successor of St. Peter made his way down the receiving line. When he came face-to-face with Pio Nono, the pope asked him, “What is the name of your parish, my son?”

And my poor predecessor was so scared he drew a blank, and couldn’t remember the name of his own parish. After a very awkward silence, Fr. Smyth blurted out, “Uh, it is the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Your Holiness.” That reply was actually a very astute diplomatic answer. Why?

Because back in 1854, Pius IX had declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, that Mother Mary was immaculately conceived – without sin – in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. And I am sure Fr. Smyth’s parish in the 1860’s must have been one of the first to bear that name (pun intended). And just maybe for once Pio Nono actually said, “Yes, yes…” as he walked away from Fr. Smyth.

Praised be Jesus Christ!