Cycle C - Year II:

7 February 2016: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical color: Green)

Gospel: Please read Luke 5:1-11

To catch people, for God....

The usual practice in the corporate world is to hire the best qualified over all the others. But sometimes the best credentials on paper do not always guarantee a the best performance.

In this Sunday's Gospel, we will see that Jesus chooses quite differently the people whom He wants to work with Him. He uses the incident of our Lord Himself performing the miracle of the great catch of fish to show what kind of people He wants to work with Him. This entire episode is both surprising and revealing.

Jesus was preaching to the crowds by the Lake of Gennesaret. The crowds were pressing around Him. To avoid the crush, Jesus decides to get on Simon's boat and pushes out from the shore a little so that He can better address the crowds.

When He finished His teaching, Jesus said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

Now Simon knew that they caught nothing for a whole night of toil. Nonetheless, at Jesus' command he said to our Lord, "At your word I will let down the nets." Lo and behold, they caught a great number of fish that their nets were tearing. So they signaled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them with the catch.

This incident conveys an important truth on how God works in and through us for His glory. Because God expects of us greater things than we can do by ourselves. But when we fully cooperate in His works, we accomplish far beyond what we can do on our own or by ourselves. It is a partnership with God, if you wish, that makes great things possible for His kingdom.

So when we meet disappointments and failure in practical life, do we press upon the Lord, like Simon did, to hear His word and receive His command? In other words, do we kneel in prayer and humility and allow God to take over?

God uses ordinary people, like you and me, as His workers, and He uses the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives and work situations to accomplish His saving works, and draw others into His kingdom.

Jesus speaks the same message to us today: we will "catch people" for His kingdom if we allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine through us. Because God wants others to see the light of Christ in us in the way we live, speak, and witness the joy of the Gospel.

May the Holy Eucharist at Mass enkindle in us the desire to respond to God's call to service to proclaim the Good News of salvation. Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!