I grew up fishing with my dad and I remember the exhilaration of the catch, the soul quickening tingle when the line goes taught and the pole bends, absorbing the life force of the deep, and traveling up into my hands and body.
In the thrill of the “catch” there is a connection and a flow of energy that is ecstasy. I can only liken it to wires touching to form a momentary electric circuit, a oneness.
For the sporting fish there is also the ritual of “release”. The momentary grasping of slippery flesh to free it of hook and barb, and the encounter with that mystery of life starring back with translucent eyes and firm jaw. And then the lifting up in thanks and the lowering down in respect to set free the life.
Through out our lives we face the spiritual challenge of catch and release. Our desires, like a burning fire, imaging God within us, seek to hold, to have, to love and embrace all things. But in our frailty and mortality there is also the temptation to grasp with intent to keep and to cling, but this will only leave us impoverished, holding idols, ideologies, and dead things.
Gods gifts are as endless as our desires, so keep releasing them back into the sea of love from which they came.