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I Reading:
1 Is. 6:1-8
II Reading: 1 Cor.: 15:1-11
Gospel: Lk. 5:1-11
Today we celebrate the
liturgy of the 5th Sunday of the Ordinary Season.
Liturgy of the Word invites us to reflect about one’s
vocation. All the readings have their common theme:
vocation. Vocation simply means ‘a call’. It can be
understood as an invitation to undertake a mission. In
the Biblical sense it means that God calls a person to
fulfill a mission in the world on his behalf.
God in the Bible is a God who desires to communicate his
will and plans to human beings. God does not directly
communicate with human beings. Often he chooses a
particular person and entrusts a mission. Such a one is
known as a prophet or an apostle. In today’s readings we
find the description of the call of Isaiah, Paul and
Peter. These are persons belonging to different times in
human history and situations.
To live one’s life meaningfully, one needs to discover
God’s ways in life. Often it is not possible for the
ordinary person. We require the help of a messenger of
God to discover or describe the will of God in the
changing situations of our life. It is here the prophets
play their role.
Today let us contemplate the way God calls his
messengers or apostles and the manner in which he
prepares them for the mission ahead. All the three
persons who received their call have some features in
common. All the three encounter God in his majesty or
greatness. Prophet Isaiah had a vision of the heavenly
court where God is seated on his throne: “I saw the Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up”. This royal
sight of his God filled Isaiah with great awe and
reverence. When we look into the vocation story of St.
Paul we notice the way Paul lost control of position on
the horse back as he encountered the dazzling light from
the skies. The sensation of fear and awe was such that
he fell like a log of wood to the ground. In the case of
Peter he was amazed at the stupendous catch of fish at
the words of Jesus, the preacher. The haul of fish
against really went against his own calculations as an
experienced fisherman. The reaction of Peter before the
great personality of Jesus is seen in the way ‘he fell
down at Jesus’ knees’.
Another feature we notice in these vocation stories is
that all the three persons experience their littleness
or unworthiness before the Lord: St. Paul confesses, “I
am the least of the apostles”. Added to this feeling is
the sense of sinfulness which they experienced in the
presence of the Lord. Prophet Isaiah exclaimed: “Poor
me! I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips living
in the midst of a people of unclean lips”. St. Paul
recalls the role of grace in his life: “by the grace of
God I am what I am”. It is nothing but natural to
experience this littleness when confronted by the
Divine. As long as we do not meet anyone greater than us
we feel ourselves great. The moment we meet someone who
is mightier than us, we feel our feebleness. Here the
case is none the human, but the great Lord himself. May
be the great Lord permits such feeling of littleness to
be experienced by the one whom He calls for a mission.
God is able to impress the human mind on such occasion.
As St. Catherine says, only when we experience our
creatureliness, the Lord can work his plans in us. Such
experience of creatureliness or nothingness would focus
our attention more on the Lord than on ourselves. That
feeling will help us to grow in holiness. This is the
moment of submission to the Lord and in such moments we
are more open to the Lord to listen to his plans and
purposes. The human person grows in reverence of the
Lord. This humility disposes the person to undertake the
mission of the Lord with total commitment. Having
listened to the call of Yahweh, Isaiah responds, “Here
am I! Send me”. St. Paul responded to the Lord
wholeheartedly and became a devoted disciple of Jesus
whom he persecuted. He could say at the end of his life,
“I have worked harder than any of the other apostles”,
“I have fought the good fight, I have run the race”. All
the three persons in our readings have fulfilled their
mission in a committed way. They made known the will of
God in the lives of the people.
At all times, the Lord wants to make known his holy will
to his people. The Lord is calling each one of us to be
his messengers of life-giving gospel. But are we able to
listen to the gentle voice or inspiration of the Lord.
Often we are so immersed in the uplifted voices that
surround our life all the time. If we are to hear the
voice of the Lord, we need to sit in silence before the
Lord and long to hear him speaking within us. It is
possible that we may listen to his message, but may not
be generous enough to undertake the mission that the
Lord gives us. Here I am not talking about great
missions, but the small ways of witnessing to the
presence of God in our neighbourhood and in our
work-place. At times the Lord does choose some
particular persons to carry out special missions. The
Lord does not have physical hands and feet but he wants
to use our hands, feet and mouth. If you and I can lend
our hands and feet then the Lord will work his wonders
as he did in the days ago. In fact we are the living
presence of God in this world of ours. Today as we
listen to the responses of these great men in today’s
liturgy, let us also ask the Spirit of God to give us
the openness of heart to respond to the call of God and
work hard to complete the mission of God among his
people. We may keep the example of Peter before our
minds: he was a man of hard work and perseverance. At
the same time he was totally open to the directions of
Jesus. Had he set aside the words of Jesus: “Put out
into the deep and let down your nets for a catch”, may
be Peter would have lost the opportunity to experience
the mighty power of God in his life.
Having listened to today’s liturgy, let us pray in to
the words of prophet Samuel: “Speak, Lord, your servant
is listening”. Each one of us is called by God to be his
messengers of his loving plan for this world of ours. To
the extent we are ready to undertake that mission, to
that measure we can bring about the kingdom of God in
our human society. May the prayers of Sts. Peter and
Paul come to our assistance. Amen.
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