Homily 5th Sunday of the Year C 10th February, 2013
Isaiah looks at himself and says, "I am not worthy"…….and so, in response….."God … sends, an angel to touches Isaiah's lips with a smoking-hot ember and tells him that his sins are purged." It is not the place of (even) 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……. And at times lack or trust and faith….. fear, and sometimes even cowardice……. Because of this list of flawed leaders… it reveals how good God is, and how wise God is…. And how utterly dependent we all are on God's grace……. God makes use of what we have to offer and God transforms it……. Jesus is not ever saying to us that we should wallow in our sin or use it as an excuse to stay stuck in old ways….…. And we should never say.. 'this is as good as I can be….' But God also wants to remind us that our worthiness is not the issue… because (actually- as many great saints throughout history would remind us….) none of us is worthy of ourselves…. None of us is worthy without God… It is God who makes us worthy.. it is God who calls us… and it is God alone who knows what we are capable of, and calls us to fulfil it… The difference between the saint and the sinner is not their worthiness before God, but their determination NOT to use their weakness or their own wilfulness to stay stuck in a rut, but to put their trust and all their efforts in God's hands… and to be changed by this… and given direction… to be transformed into instruments of God's love and grace…
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… and held them to that…. if they trusted in God's wisdom, mercy and guidance… and of course, relied on God's grace. ..
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 amazing 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 timely reminder to us….. of a couple of important matters:
We must connect the good news to the ordinary, everyday events of life and work, or else it will not bear fruit… it will not make sense…… Secondly…. We …. Just 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…… we must take our cues, as best we can discern them, from Christ… If it is only about our own individual efforts and priorities….our toil may be misdirected.. …..it may be fruitless… like the fisherman who laboured all night and caught nothing….. but, then Jesus asks them to trust him and follow his ways and do the same activity but under his direction…… 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 travelled… 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 marvellous deeds. Let us be able to say: Here I am, Lord. Send me!"
· (this reflection seems as fresh and relevant as the first time I delivered it, so I have tidied it up a bit and re-present it this weekend…. From FR. PAUL W. KELLY and also, 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).
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