February 7, 2016 – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Lectionary: 75

Audio:

 

Reading 1 – Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-8

In the year King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above.

They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.

Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

He touched my mouth with it, and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said; “send me!”

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 138: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8

1. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
   I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
   for you have heard the words of my mouth;
   in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
   I will worship at your holy temple
   and give thanks to your name.
2. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
   Because of your kindness and your truth;
   for you have made great above all things
   your name and your promise.
   When I called, you answered me;
   you built up strength within me.
3. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
   All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O LORD,
   when they hear the words of your mouth;
   and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD:
   “Great is the glory of the LORD.”
4. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
   Your right hand saves me.
   The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
   your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
   forsake not the work of your hands.
5. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

Reading 2 – 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11

 

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,
of the gospel I preached to you,
which you indeed received and in which you also stand.
Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, Christ appeared to more
than five hundred brothers at once,
most of whom are still living,
though some have fallen asleep.
After that he appeared to James,
then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
he appeared to me.
For I am the least of the apostles,
not fit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and his grace to me has not been ineffective.
Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;
not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.
Therefore, whether it be I or they,
so we preach and so you believed.
Gospel – 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 the boats 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.

 

Listen to the Scriptures:  Click on the link below:

http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/16_02_07.mp3

THEME: God calls all Christians to serve him in various ways.  Open yourself to the Spirit speaking through the Scriptures so you can discern what personal gifts you can offer to the service of Christ in his Church.

Point 1: God called Isaiah, Paul, and Peter to serve him.  We see in the readings for today’s Eucharist that each of these men had a vision of God’s greatness:  Isaiah saw the tremendous sovereignty of God; Paul, we know, had a vision of Christ on the road to Damascus that radically changed his life to follow Jesus; and Peter experienced the power of Christ’s word in the miraculous catch of fish.  These visions forced these men to see themselves as they really were and realize that human fulfillment lies only in loving service of God.  Following this realization or vocation initiated by God, they became great of the Faith.

 

Point 2: The vocation to serve God is not limited to priests or religious.  God calls all baptized Christians in a unique, personal way to serve him.  In an individual way all Christians have an experience of God revealing to them that the dignity and fulfillment of their lives lies in serving him.  The important thing for Christians to do is to respond to these promptings of loving service and not think of their Christian existence only passively in terms of praying and obeying.   To inaugurate the kingdom Jesus drew others to himself.  He called people to share in his mission of proclaiming the good news, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned.  The ministries of the church are as varied as the needs of the human condition (1 Cor. 12: 4-6).  The ministry, which realizes the mission of Jesus to the world, is the activity of the Church as it is carried out by all members.  God through the Church calls individuals to serve, in a common mission, according to their talents whether it be teaching, serving on a parish council, working with the sick and elderly, or preparing young people for marriage etc.  For too long the Church has given the clergy the primary role in ministry; there must be a continued effort to become a church relying far more on the common responsibility of all people.  These ministries of baptized Christians should not merely be understood as a sharing in or a substitute for the ordained ministry (priesthood).  Ministries do not exist because they are recognized by ordained ministers (priests).  It is because ministries exist that they should be recognized.

 

Point 3: In order to call the disciples to do his work, Jesus first leads the disciples-to-be to the realization of the impotence and frustration that accompanies their own efforts.  However, when they follow the words of Jesus and let him be their guide, their efforts are rewarded beyond any reasonable expectation.  Without Jesus they are powerless.  With him, their efforts are multiplied beyond human calculation.

 

Conclusion: All Christians are called to serve God.  To serve him Christians must remember that they must die to themselves as Christ died to his self so we may live.  Notice Peter’s declaration that he is a sinful man – it means that he has been missing the point and has been trying to make a go of it on his own.  Of course, Jesus does not depart from him.  He has brought Peter to the first condition for reaching out for salvation: frustration at one’s own efforts.  Then they (the disciples) (us) can take the second step of emptying themselves of everything,so that they can embrace Jesus and his way.

 

 

QUESTIONS THAT MAY LEAD TO OTHER THOUGHTS / REFLECTION / DISCUSSION / WRITTEN

 Do you see yourself as serving Christ in the Church and thereby opening yourself to salvation or do you see yourself as a member of the Christian community who is to be served?

2. Speak about two ways in which you have died to yourself? Emptied yourself?

 

3. What have you been able to do in your life which you were not able to do without Christ? Be specific.

 

4. What talents do you have that you can lay before the Lord for the service of his people?

 

There is in today’s Gospel what we might call the conditions for a miracle – the conditions for the power of God to be released in and through our lives.

1. There is the eye that sees. There is no need to think that Jesus created a shoal of fishes for the occasion.  In the Sea of Galilee there were phenomenal shoals which covered the sea as if it was solid for as much as an acre.  Most likely Jesus’ keen eye saw just such a shoal and his keen sight made it look like a miracle.  We need the eye that really sees.  Many people saw steam raise the lid of a kettle; only James Watt went on to think of a steam engine.  Many people saw an apple fall; only Isaac Newton went on to think out the law of gravity.  The earth is full of miracles for the eye that sees.
2. There is the spirit that will make an effort. If Jesus said it, tired as he was Peter was prepared to try again.  For most people the disaster of life is that they give up just one effort too soon.
3. There is the spirit which will attempt what seems hopeless. The night was past and that was the best time for fishing. All the circumstances were unfavourable, but Peter said, “Let circumstances be what they may, if you say so, we will try again.” Too often we wait because the time is not opportune.  If we wait for a perfect set of circumstances, we will never begin at all. If we want a miracle, we must take Jesus at his word when he bids us attempt the impossible.

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Meditation: How does God reveal his glory to us? In his Last Supper discourse Jesus speaks of his glory and the glory of his Father. What is this glory? It is the cross which Jesus speaks of here. The cross of Jesus shows us that the greatest glory in life is the glory of willingly sacrificing one’s life for the sake of another. In the cross God reveals the breadth of his great love for sinners and the power of redemption which cancels the debt of sin and reverses the curse of our condemnation. Jesus gave his Father supreme honor and glory through his obedience and willingness to sacrifice his life on the cross. The greatest trust one can give to their leader is the willingness to obey in the line of duty, even to the point of putting oneself in harm’s way. In warfare the greatest honor belongs not to those who survive but to those who give the supreme sacrifice of their lives. Jesus also speaks of the Father bringing glory to the Son through the great mystery of the Incarnation and Cross of Christ. God the Father gave us his only begotten Son for our sake, to redeem us from slavery to sin and death.  He freely offered his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world.

There is no greater proof of God’s love for us than the Cross of Jesus Christ. In the cross we see a new way of love – a love that is selfless, sacrificial, forgiving and compassionate beyond comprehension. Jesus commands us, his disciples, to love one another just as he has loved  us. How can we love one another selflessly, sacrificially, and with compassion? Through the victory of the cross and resurrection, we  have access to God’s grace and mercy. God gives us new life through the gift of the Holy Spirit and he fills our hearts with faith, hope, and love. Paul the Apostle reminds us that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). As we turn to God with trust and obedience, he transforms our hearts and frees us to love others with compassion and kindness.  Do you want to bring glory to God in the way you love others?

“Lord Jesus, your love knows no bounds and your obedience to the Father reverses the curse of our disobedience. May I bring you glory in the sacrifice of my will to the will of the Father and in my love and compassion for others, both for those who treat me well and for those who cause me grief or harm.”

Intercessions – intentions for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 7th February 2016

 For the Church: that we may allow Jesus to draw our attention away from our fear and limits and open us to all the possibilities that flow from God’s invitation, let us pray to the Lord.

 For a deeper sense of your need for God: that God will help us recognize how much we need God and the freedom and wholeness that can be found in God, let us pray to the Lord.

 For all who lead others to God, especially spiritual directors, missionaries, and retreat masters: that God will inspire and make fruitful their efforts in helping others to come to know Christ, let us pray to the Lord.

 For the grace to venture into the depths of our hearts: that we may follow Christ away from the noise and demands of the day and enter into the silent depths of our hearts where God can speak to us, let us pray to the Lord.

 For the growth of faith: that the dying and rising of Christ may be the foundation of our lives and inspire all our words, deeds, and desires, let us pray to the Lord.

 For an ever deepening conversion of heart: that as we discover our misdirection and allow the Spirit to lead us greater faith, stronger hope and deeper love, let us pray to the Lord.

 For parents, teachers, writers, and preachers: that God will inspire them with new ways to share the Good News and invite others to a deeper relationship with Christ, let us pray to the Lord.

 For a greater insight into the Gospel’s demands: that through prayer and reflection we may recognize and accept the challenges of living the Gospel each day, let us pray to the Lord.

 For all catechumens and candidates: that they may receive the Gospel message as a word of life and grow in their knowledge and love of God, let us pray to the Lord.

 For all who are discerning God’s call: that they may have wisdom and insight to know the voice of the Lord and courage to follow, let us pray to the Lord.

 For all who feel unwelcome before God or unworthy of God’s presence: that God’s unconditional love may heal and renew them and draw them into communion with God, let us pray to the Lord.

 For our earth: that we may find the glory of God through the earth and be good stewards of all its resources, let us pray to the Lord.

 For civic leaders: that they may be attentive to the hopes and needs of the voiceless and powerless, let us pray to the Lord.

 For all who are imprisoned unjustly: that they may know God’s presence and feel united to the Body of Christ, let us pray to the Lord.

 For all who are suffering, particularly the people of Syria and in other places of violence: that God will ease their suffering and protect them from harm, let us pray to the Lord.

 For peace: that God will turn every heart from violence and lead us along the road of peace and justice, let us pray to the Lord.