20220206 TRIUMPH OF GRACE
06 February, 2022, Sunday, Week 5 in Ordinary Time
First reading |
Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8 © |
'Here I am: send me'
In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord of Hosts seated on a high throne; his train filled the sanctuary; above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings.
And they cried out to one another in this way,
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.
His glory fills the whole earth.’
The foundations of the threshold shook with the voice of the one who cried out, and the Temple was filled with smoke. I said:
‘What a wretched state I am in! I am lost,
for I am a man of unclean lips
and I live among a people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have looked at the King, the Lord of Hosts.’
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. With this he touched my mouth and said:
‘See now, this has touched your lips,
your sin is taken away,
your iniquity is purged.’
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?’
I answered, ‘Here I am, send me.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 137(138):1-5,7-8 © |
Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
I thank you, Lord, with all my heart:
you have heard the words of my mouth.
In the presence of the angels I will bless you.
I will adore before your holy temple.
Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
I thank you for your faithfulness and love,
which excel all we ever knew of you.
On the day I called, you answered;
you increased the strength of my soul.
Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
All earth’s kings shall thank you
when they hear the words of your mouth.
They shall sing of the Lord’s ways:
‘How great is the glory of the Lord!’
Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
You stretch out your hand and save me,
your hand will do all things for me.
Your love, O Lord, is eternal,
discard not the work of your hands.
Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord.
Second reading |
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 © |
I preached what the others preach, and you all believed
Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you – believing anything else will not lead to anything.
Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it.
I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. On the contrary, I, or rather the grace of God that is with me, have worked harder than any of the others; but what matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn15:15 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends, says the Lord,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt4:19 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Follow me, says the Lord,
and I will make you into fishers of men.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 5:1-11 © |
They left everything and followed him
Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.
When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.
TRIUMPH OF GRACE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Isaiah 6:1-8; Ps 138; 1 Cor 15:1-11 (or 1 Cor 15:3-8,11); Luke 5:1-11]
To be chosen to be a messenger of the Lord or His apostle is truly a grace of God. We must never forget that this is the case. An apostle of our Lord must never imagine that he or she is worthy enough to be God’s ambassador to society and the world.
Yet God chooses imperfect people to be His prophet, messenger and apostle. In the first reading, we read of the vocation of Isaiah. It happened that God granted him a vision of Himself, although not directly, because it would be impossible to see God who is pure spirit. But God manifested Himself unequivocally to him through a vision suitable for the finite mental apprehension of His presence. He said, “I saw the Lord seated on a high throne; his train filled the sanctuary; above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings. And they cried out one to another in this way, ‘Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. His glory fills the whole earth.'” It was a majestic sight.
Before God’s transcendence and holiness, the sinfulness of Isaiah became even more obvious. Indeed, when a dark spot is on a white paper, it becomes more noticeable. So too when we compare ourselves with some of our fellowmen, we think we are saints. But when we compare ourselves to holy men and women, we realize how far we are from God and how sinful and weak we are as Catholics. So we can imagine what Isaiah was feeling when he encountered the holiness of God. Nothing could describe the immensity of how he felt with his sins and inadequacy. He said, “What a wretched state I am in! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have looked at the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Indeed, this sense of unworthiness is the common experience of all those who have been graced by God with a deep religious encounter. Whilst all experiences are unique, yet there are common characteristics of this experience. It is indescribable, immense, deep, transforming, liberating and humbling. For this reason, when someone has a radical religious experience of the transcendence, the moment he or she tries to frame it in words, it sounds incoherent or unintelligible to those listening because they cannot enter into that experience of which they have no inkling at all. Our human language is inadequate to describe something that transcends this world. The love of God is indescribable.
This was the case of Paul and Peter. When Paul encountered the Lord along the road to Damascus, he too had a tangible experience of the Risen Lord which he described as a bright light. He fell from his horse and heard the voice of our Lord, asking him why he was persecuting Him. The bright light blinded him and he was eventually healed by Ananias, to whom the Lord gave assurance that Paul would be transformed from being a persecutor to a witness for Him. In today’s reading, St Paul described his encounter with the Risen Lord as totally unexpected; and more unexpected still was to be called His apostle to the Gentiles. He wrote, “it was as though I was born when no one expected it. I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless.” It was the gratitude of Paul, realizing how unworthy he was to be Christ’s apostle that motivated him to work even harder. “On the contrary, I, or rather the grace of God that is with me, have worked harder than any of the others; but what matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.” Indeed, when we know how unworthy we are to be chosen, all the more we want to show our gratitude through faithful and generous service.
Peter in the gospel also had a similar conversion experience, although not as radical as Paul’s. Nevertheless, Peter was totally converted and transformed like the rest of the apostles at the resurrection of our Lord. Still, a glimpse of the divinity of our Lord manifested in the miraculous catch of fish was sufficient to bring Peter to recognize his sinfulness and unworthiness. When he was asked to lay down the nets for a catch, he was initially resistant. As a professional fisherman, he felt that he knew the situation better. Whether out of sincere obedience to our Lord or whether to prove Him wrong, he laid down the nets, only to be surprised by the wondrous catch. It jolted him out of his pride, and hence he fell down and begged the Lord for mercy. “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made.”
In all these three events, besides radical encounters that bring a person to an awareness of his inadequacy and sinfulness, we also see the working of grace. When we are called to be an apostle or a leader, or even to holiness, we must never think that it is our efforts alone that make us worthy to be a leader. And even when we are successful, we must never pride ourselves into believing that we are very talented, and that our success is due to our resourcefulness. The truth is that we are what we are because of the grace of God. It was God’s grace that sanctified Isaiah, Paul and Peter. It was God’s grace that they received a special encounter and revelation from the Lord. And it was God’s grace that they were found worthy to be God’s messengers. If God had not bestowed these graces upon them, not only would they have remained in their sinfulness but they would not have been transformed or empowered to be bold prophets and witnesses of our Lord.
Secondly, if God wants us to be empowered by His grace alone, it is in order that we will always remain humble in His service and that of our people out of gratitude. A leader without humility will become a dictator, a tyrant and divisive. When leaders think too highly of themselves, they listen to no one. They tend to be overconfident of themselves and hardly pray to God! Often, they become proud and egoistic. They forget that they were chosen by God’s grace, and tend to emphasize on what they do, how much they have achieved, and how hard they worked. They tend to focus on themselves instead of getting people to focus on God. Instead of sincerely glorifying God and feeling humbled at their achievements, they glorify themselves. But when we are humble even when we do well, then God will be glorified because we will give all glory to Him. When we truly believe that it is God’s grace alone, we will do even more for Him because we know success in our ministry is His work in us.
Thirdly, consciousness of God’s grace does not mean we degrade ourselves. That is false humility. Isaiah, Paul and Peter were not just putting up a show. They sincerely felt the utter holiness of God and their sinfulness. But they were also aware of their dignity and responsibility. St Paul in saying, “I, or rather the grace of God that is with me, have worked harder than any of the others” was not boasting about his achievements but simply that because of God’s grace, he was able to be a zealous apostle of the Lord. Humility does not mean a denial of our cooperation with His grace. They knew that they had to work all the harder with His grace.
Finally, consciousness of God’s grace helps us to work in communion with others. Paul was also humble in that he called himself the least of the apostles and made it clear that he was in continuity with the apostolic church when he wrote, “Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you – believing anything else will not lead to anything.” Furthermore, he said, “but what matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.”
In the final analysis, encountering the grace of God makes us gracious, humble and desire to return our gratitude through humble service in the hope that others will be led to Him and be given similar graces to encounter Him personally. Grace is the ultimate answer.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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