Reading I
Is 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
Ps 138:1-2, 2-3,
4-5, 7-8
R. (1c) 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.
R. 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.
R. 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."
R. 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.
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
Reading II
1
Cor 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
Lk 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.
Commentary
Isaiah’s
Call, like that of other prophets, is an important part of the story since
it is used to justify the prophet’s teaching, even though it may be very
unpopular or rebellious. The prophet’s call probably took place c.742 BC since
this is year of king Uzziah’s death. Having seen the Lord, Isaiah’s message
now has great authority because it comes from God and is superior to that of any
human institution. The seraphim are heavenly guardians of Yahweh’s court and
their cry of “Holy, holy” probably refers to some liturgical hymn from the
Jerusalem Temple. God’s presence is affirmed in the smoke and shaking of the
temple. Having his mouth touched by the ember, Isaiah is now uniquely qualified
as God’s spokesperson.
In today’s Second
Reading, Paul reminds the Corinthians that they share in one family through
baptism and the Gospel, which has the power to save. He asserts that the Gospel
he preaches is grounded firmly on tradition that goes back to Jesus’ life on
earth: “I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received”.
Paul then professes a creed that contains four elements:
o
Christ died
o
Christ was
buried
o
Christ was
raised from the dead
o
Christ
appeared
Christ’s burial and
entombment for 3 days expresses the reality of death, which is the final stage
of life. Appearing after this time to many people (500 in one instance) is a
sign of objectivity – Christ was not just seen – it expresses a reality and
is a foundation upon which the Church rests. Paul concludes his list of Jesus’
apparitions with his own vision which gives his apostolic work authority much
like the authority given to the prophet Isaiah in today’s First
Reading.
After the negative
response that Jesus received in his hometown (see 4th
week of Ordinary Time), Jesus takes his ministry to the fertile plain on the
northwest shore of the lake. Unlike Mark’s Gospel, the focus of Luke’s
calling of the fishermen is Simon. Jesus uses Simon’s boat to preach to the
crowd. The Gospel, however, does not tell us what Jesus
preached. The focus shifts to Simon who is asked to “Put out into deep
water and lower your nets for a catch” Simon’s obedience results in a
miraculous catch of fish. The marvelous event causes Simon to call Jesus
“Lord”. Simon’s faith, demonstrated in his obedience to Jesus’ command
makes him “the Rock” (Peter) on which the Church will be built. Simon Peter
recognizes his unworthiness but Jesus comforts him: "Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men" implying that they, like Jesus,
will be gathering among others, sinners and outcasts.
Reflection
Faith is a very
personal decision. Faith is having hope when no grounds for hope can be found.
Faith is becoming aware there is something greater upon which I must hope and
depend – something infinite; something I can neither control nor manipulate.
Faith must be shared and transmitted to others because no one can give himself
or herself faith just like no one can give himself or herself life. Today’s Gospel
makes this very clear. It is Jesus – God made man – who inspires faith in
others. His entire life and mission is to bring people to faith. This is
particularly true for those who live with injustice, illness, and any other form
of suffering. Jesus calls us to faith in spite of the things we must face every
day; things that can be for us a constant battle to keep our faith.
In today’s Gospel,
Simon Peter in “faith” will learn to trust in Jesus instead of himself. He
and the other apostles will leave behind everything to follow this preacher from
Galilee. We are all called to do the same. Just as Christ “emptied” (Phil
2:6-7) himself to take on our humanity, we must also empty ourselves so that
Christ may become our center; it is living in a sort of spiritual poverty where
we no longer trust in ourselves but trust wholly in Christ. To trust in anything
other than Christ is to live life in an endless search to satisfy the hunger
that grows in us from day to day – a hunger that cannot be satisfied until
give ourselves over totally and in need to Christ. Only in this can we
understand Simon Peter’s decision to leave everything and follow Jesus and
only in this way can we proclaim along with the psalmist: “In you alone,
have I hoped; let me never be put to shame”.
Biblical Sources
New American Bible;
Brown, R. K., and Comfort, P. W. (trans.) and Douglas, J. D., (ed.) “The
New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament”; United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops; Clements, R., “Isaiah”;
Murphy-O’Connor, J., “St. Paul’s Corinth: Texts and Archaeology”;
Theissen, G., “The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on
Corinth”; Fitzmyer, J. A., “The Gospel According to Luke”;
LaVerdiere, E., “Luke”; Maddox, R., “The Purpose of Luke-Acts”;
“The Collegeville Bible Commentary”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction
to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New
Jerome Biblical Commentary”.
Reflection by
Deacon Lazaro J.
Ulloa