From Now On You Will Be Catching Men
Introduction
1. We Are Called and Sent
If our faith is truly an integral part of our lives, we should be so much aware of its riches that we cannot keep it to ourselves. What we see in it, what we live in it, we want to share with others. If it makes us feel happy and secure in God, we realize it is given not only for ourselves. Let us make others happy and rich in faith: that is the vocation of every Christian. Let us ask the Lord here in the Eucharist that we may bring him to others, at least by the way we live.
2. The Rich Word of God
It is fortunate that the new liturgy has opened the Bible for us. Not only do we hear it now in our own language but also the number and selection of texts read to us has improved immensely. No wonder many people now have a Bible and regularly read from it. Why do we read the Bible? Is it only to seek consolation in it or is it that we want to know God better, especially through encountering Jesus and his message? When we know God better, do we bring others closer to God? Jesus asks of us today to spread his word and message. Let us listen to him as he speaks to us.
First Reading: Here I Am, Send Me
Isaiah believed in God’s presence in the Temple but he did not expect to see a vision of the holy God. Moved by this experience, he accepted to become God’s unworthy prophet.
1 Reading: Isaiah 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.
Second Reading: I Am an Apostle by the Grace of God
Paul thought that by persecuting Christians he was defending God against a dangerous sect. Jesus took him by surprise and made him an apostle.
2 Reading: 1 Corinthians 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.
Alleluia: Matthew 4:19
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come after me
and I will make you fishers of men.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: I Will Make You Fishers of People
Peter and his companions were expert fishers. Jesus calls them to be expert fishers of people. They left everything to follow him.
Gospel: Luke 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
They had “worked hard all night and caught nothing.” But next moment the boat was so full of fish that they were in danger of sinking. It’s a spectacular contrast between emptiness and fullness.
As usual, these opposites are not enemies. There is some sense in which we have to be empty if we are to receive. What freedom would be ours if we could sit down sometimes with our emptiness (empty feelings especially) and see it not as something to be avoided at all costs, but as a purification and a clearing of space for something new to be born. In fact we will never come to anything new if we are afraid of emptiness; our whole lives will be only a rearrangement of what we already have. No one has expressed it so well as St. John of the Cross.
To reach satisfaction in all. To come to possess all.
Desire its possession in nothing. Desire the possession of nothing.
To come to the knowledge of all. To arrive at being all
Desire the knowledge of nothing. Desire to be nothing.
Blessing
The Lord entrusts to you
his word and his body.
Go now, speak his word
and be his body to the world.
May the Lord bless you,
that you may be a blessing to all,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in the peace of the Lord. R/ Thanks be to God.