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Bishop's Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

February 9, 2025

Homily of the Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu
[St. Patrick Church, Honolulu; St. Stephen Diocesan Center, Kaneohe (Deacon Retreat)]

This week a team from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops came here to have a dialogue with us about human trafficking, especially in the Native Hawaiian community, which has a high percentage of victims.

They were relating how human traffickers often look through public records for people who are being released from prison.  They know they are vulnerable, and so they contact them and make some promises to help them.  They may actually deliver on those promises at first, but once the victim is “caught” they employ the person in the sex trade or in slave labor conditions.  These insidious people know how to fish for people, to present bait that is appealing to them, and then to hook them in their dehumanizing enterprise.

Others who profit from human trafficking may look for vulnerable youth who seem to cut school or get in trouble a lot.  They will make some offer to the young person, either in person or on the internet, and lure that young person into their nets.  Soon they have their catch, and use the person for internet pornography or worse.

Being a fisher of men and women, obviously, is not something that is related only to the followers of Jesus.  Even our advertising and entertainment have hooks in them that catch us and lead us down a path of sin and self-destruction.

February 8 is the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, who was born in Sudan in East Africa and since her youth was a victim of the slave trade.  Her masters and mistresses bought her, sold her, beat her, and used her to do the work they did not want to do themselves.  At one point she was moved to Italy, and while she was there, she was exposed to the Catholic faith.  After she became a Catholic, the Canossian Sisters sued in a court of law to free her from slavery and prevailed.  Josephine became a Canossian Sister and led a life of great love for others, despite her own difficult youth.  She died in 1947 and was declared a saint in 2000 as patron saint of victims of human trafficking.

The Canossian Sisters also knew how to fish – to lure someone who probably mistrusted them at first, to show her a love and acceptance she had never known before, and to free her from the bonds of slavery.  They were followers of Jesus, of course, who never wants to entrap anyone, but to lure them to himself by bonds of love and freedom.

We are also disciples of Jesus, and we also are called to be fishers of men and women.  We can obviously do this for dark purposes, but we do it to bring people into the light that is Christ himself.  But like the fishermen in the Gospel, even though we are guided by Jesus, we still have to do the work of lowering the nets, and pulling our brothers and sisters out of the depths and into the light that is Christ himself.

Human trafficking is often a hidden reality.  This is the way Satan works, since he does not want his insidious works exposed to the light.  But we have the light of Christ, which can dispel the darkness of sin and death.  But we must deliberately shine that light to guide others on the road to freedom.  Some do this by reaching out to those in prison, letting them know that there is love for them even there and that they can have a better life once they leave prison.  Some volunteer to help ex-prisoners find work, learn life skills, and provide them with a loving community so that they do not return to the toxic communities from which they came.  Some reach out to troubled youth, treating them with respect and love, and challenging them to see their goodness and their gifts and to stay away from things that will harm them.  Some work with government officials to craft laws that protect the vulnerable.  All of these are ways that the Lord calls us to be fishers of men and women.

Fishing, like any industry, can be very competitive.  There are those who try to lure others into self-destruction and misery, while we hope that we can lure them into a life of freedom and love.  If we realize that we are not the ones who can successfully fish on our own, but turn to the Lord and stay close to him, we will be able to haul in an abundant catch, so that many can be pulled up from the depths in which they live and become nourishment for others who have not yet seen the light.  We may feel unworthy or unable to do this kind of fishing, but if we simply say, “Here I am, Lord.  Send me,” the Lord will call us to follow him and rejoice in the freedom he brings to the world through us.