6TH FEBRUARY 2022
Is 6:1-2a, 3-8; Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8; 1Cor 15:1-11; Gospel Lk 5:1-11
CALLED TO BE PROPHETS OF GOD
Isaiah, in the first reading, and Peter, in today’s Gospel, express their unworthiness to be in the presence of God’s great holiness, and Peter and Isaiah both immediately receive reassurance and their Divine calls. Today’s second reading describes the call of another great apostle, Paul, who judges himself to be unworthy of the name or the call, as he was a former persecutor of the Christians and as he was last apostle selected by the Risen Lord. It was the miraculous catch of fish at Jesus’ command, described in today’s Gospel, which enabled Peter to find God in Jesus and prompted him to surrender his life fully to Jesus’ service as a full-time disciple. The Second Vatican Council teaches that we are all called to Christ’s ministry by virtue of our Baptism into Jesus Christ.
We need to pray that our encounters with the holiness of God may lead us to recognize our sinfulness and accept His call. God, who calls us and commissions us for His service, wants us to realize His presence everywhere and in everyone, to repent of our sins, and to remain in readiness to speak and act for Him in our life circumstances, as He shall direct us through His grace and His Holy Spirit. We need to teach and practice expressions of reverence for the Lord. We need to express our reverence for God through appropriate bodily gestures. For example, when we come into Church, we need to show reverence for Jesus’ presence in the Tabernacle by making a deep bow or by genuflecting and blessing ourselves with sign of the cross.
Then we need to honor Him by listening to the word of God and by actively participating in the liturgy’s prayers and singing. This same sense of reverence can be expressed by keeping the Bible, God’s living word to us, in a prominent place in our homes and by kissing it each time we read from it. True reverence for God naturally leads us to reverent, respectful love of our neighbors, as God dwells in them. We need to remember that each of us has a unique mission in the Church. This is why God has a different call for each of us. Each of us is unique, so each of us has a mission which no one else can fulfill. Let us accomplish this mission as parents, priests, religious, and lay persons by radiating the love, mercy, and forgiveness of Jesus and by participating in the various ministries of our parish.
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