WEEK FIVE ORDINARY TIME YEAR C. 4/2/07

 

Isaiah looks at himself and says, “I am not worthy”…….so in response…..”God … sends, an angel to touches Isaiah’s lips with an ember and tells him that his sins are purged.”  It is not the place of the great prophet Isaiah to tell God what he is or is not worthy of……….  the same happens with St Peter..

 

Thank goodness the early disciples… the ones we look up to so much…. are also revealed to be people with weaknesses, foibles…. sinfulness……   failure…….    at times lack or trust and faith…..  fear and sometimes even cowardice…….    it revelas how God makes use of what he have to offer and transforms it……. 

 

St Peter, Saint Paul, Isaiah, Jeremiah……   King David… Saul…. Moses…….  the list goes on and on…. of great people… people who did God’s will….. but also who were terribly weak….. who sinned….. sometimes even betrayed their calling…. but nevertheless it was God who called them… and knew them and what they truly could do if they  trusted in God’s promises…..

Again we can reflect on our own experiences of forgiveness, both by the Lord and by others. Being forgiven is a humbling experience, but one that allows us, like Isaiah, to volunteer for the Lord’s work.

All of us are invited to reflect on our own refusals to accept God and His power and His presence. God is not there to frighten us nor to condemn us but to love us. Once we begin to believe and to accept forgiveness for our weaknesses and failings…, then we are able to be given over to the work of the Lord. As with Saint Peter, we can doubt many times and we can deny but eventually, when we begin to believe, our lives can be transformed into a reflection of God’s mercy, compassion and forgiveness.

But there is more……  did Jesus learn something from his previous rejection…. he preached alone and he met with utter rejection.. the crowd almost killed him ….   he narrowly escaped being thrown off a cliff….   now… he goes and calls followers to join him, support him and be company on the journey, and what a hard journey it is………   he calls a community around him……  

 

Simon Peter experiences a great miracle.. in the least expected situation… not on a mountain top somewhere… but in the ordinariness of his workplace…..   and he experiences this amazinf event by listening to someone telling him to do the job he knew so well… in a new and dramatic and trusting and  different way… and the results are huge…….. 

 

this is a reminder to us…..   1. if we do not connect the good news the the ordinary everyday events of life and work then it will not bear fruit… it will not make sense……  2. We . like the disciples need to work together… in unity… community.. like the disciples who were all needed to haul in the enormous catch of fish… and finally…3…   we must take our cuses, as best we can discern them, from Christ… if its all about our effort, it may be misdirected.. it may be fruitless… like the fisherman who laboured all night and caught nothing….. then Jesus asks them to trust him and follow his ways and they catch more than they can hold…….    Jesus ways are not the most ordinary…..not the most logical…. but they are the way of the gospel… and only by following jesus way, which is almost always the road less traveled… can we hope to bear fruit for Jesus good news……

Today let us ask the Lord to deepen our faith and give us the courage to proclaim his marvelous deeds. Let us be able to say: Here I am, Lord. Send me!”

 

(EXCERPTS TAKEN FROM HOMILY from the Abbot, Monastery of Christ in the Desert, http://www.christdesert.org/  ; also thoughts from Gustavo Gutierrez, Sharing the Word through the liturgical year/ also reflection from Madonna Magazine, Jan-Feb 2007).