5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

As we move towards Lent and Easter in our Sunday readings we hear today,

in all three readings, a real sense of calling, making ready, and sending out.  This, to me, is the dynamics of the Christian life – encounter – conversion – mission.

 In the first reading Isaiah’s hears the angels proclaim

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!  All the earth is filled with his glory.”

 And at the sound of that cry the door shook and the house was filled smoke.

Isaiah overwhelmed by God majestic presence cry’s out

“Woe is me, I am doomed.  For I am a man of unclean lips”

As he trembles in, fear and unworthiness an angel of the Lord comes near and in one of the great scriptural images of purifying by the power of God, Isaiah is made ready.  Isaiah says of the Angel -

“Holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar, he touched my month with it and said See, now I have touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged”

God’s Word a purging fire and purifying heat makes ready and so when Isaiah hears the words of God

“Whom shall I send”?

Isaiah answers boldly “Here I am.  Send me”  

 His answer probably surprised himself and he perhaps even second guessed his response.

But God always surprises us by his call and we can surprise ourselves by our answer.   God’s call, puts a flood light on us, illuminates our unworthiness /and our inabilities stand out in high relief / our inexperience sharply defined / but by that same light we are awakened. We are awakened to God’s desire for us and our potential to fulfill that desire.We are called in our weakness, we are called as we are, but we are sent forth we a new confidence, not in our abilities or outcome, but confident in God’s promise and grace.

Call and response, challenge and growth, gift and responsibility all are the dynamics of transformation.

As human beings we are challenged by life itself, it biological, social and economic conditions.  We are challenged by marriage, family and parenthood. As Christians we are challenged by the Gospel message to surrender self-interest (our inbred instinct of survival) for the good of another. To all of this our initial response is Isaiah’s “I am doomed”.

 My self-doubt, to even try, make me feel doomed, but of course, I am not doomed. We are not doomed, but we are not perfect either, both extremes imply non action.But God’s call is a call to action and He does not call us because we are perfect; rather we are made more perfect by responding to his call. This is always the first step towards the better.  It is the hot ember of encounter with Christ. And the second step?

“I have handed on to you…what I have received”, Paul tells the Corinthians. He was called (dramatically on the road to Damascus) and responded by conversion, study and prayer, and finally Apostleship and all of this was part of his receiving.  And his handing on (to the Corinthians) was his mission to share the Good News.

Paul was far from perfect and even throughout his ministry he was all too human -

“I have done what I did not want to do and I have not done what I should have done” He tells us.

To the Corinthians Paul also acknowledges his unworthiness “I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an Apostle” But Paul was called and he answered yes to Christ, in his unworthiness, without understanding and in uncertainty.

“But, by the Grace of God” Paul says  “I am what I am and this Grace to me has not been ineffective”.

This is our story too “I am what I am”, imperfect human beings, spouses, parents, friends and neighbors.

But we can go into these roles in the faith that Grace is at work in us and around us and all will come to good.  Each person is called by Jesus.  Each person (I can witness to this) is unworthy and unprepared for that call and unprepared for what lies ahead in following the Lord.

We are like Peter in today’s Gospel. Peter‘s response to Jesus, in the miracle of the fishes, was to fall down, frozen in unworthiness and self-doubt

“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”

How human to take the easy way out

“Depart from me I am not worthy”, is a cheap response. It is easier to stay on the sideline or never start the race in fear of stumbling. It is easier to say “depart from me I am not worthy” (that is incapable) of being loved or to love, of being a faithful husband or wife, a selfless parent, a good and kind neighbor, or building up a loving family or to lend a helping hand or receive a helping hand. It is easier to say - I am doomed, than to respond to God’s call. All non -action to God’s call comes from fear. Fear of rejection, of unworthiness, of failure and the unknown. But Jesus knows us and tells us again and again and here today’s Gospel -  

“Be not afraid”.

In that encounter with Jesus, Peter was transformed.  Not into perfection but into an openness to becoming perfect and a new willingness to follow in faith and trust. You and I like Peter and all disciples, grow into what we are called to be. Peter was to become, after much hard work setbacks and failings, a fisher of men.

This is our calling to become, by our lives, fishers of men.

We are unceasingly called by God, as we are, and we are continually made ready by the Spirit, and we are always sent forth to be witnesses of the Good News everywhere and to everyone.

  Like Paul we receive everything from God and in turn we must share everything we have received.  Receiving from God is open to every aspect of human life. Sharing what we have received  must be open to new and unexpected opportunities to say yes to God’s call.