Cycle C - Year I:  

10 February 2019: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Isaiah 6:1-2, 3-8

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (or 15:3-8)

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 5:1-11

To catch them for God....

Do you remember how  you were hired for the job? The usual practice in the corporate world is of course to hire the best qualified over all the others. But then sometimes the best credentials on papers do not always guarantee the best performance of those hired.

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

The Gospel narratives: Our Lord 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.

And so when Jesus is done with His preaching, He 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 did not hesitate to follow Jesus and said to Him, "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 big catch.

How do we make of this miraculous catch? Well, this incident conveys an important truth on how God works in and through us for His glory. Because 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 then a partnership with God, if you wish, that makes great things possible for His kingdom.

There is a valuable lesson to learn for our Christian living.  That is to say, when we meet disappointments and failures 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?  Or do we get disappointed, complain, or just give up on God?

The truth is that God uses ordinary people, like you and me perhaps, 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.

Now, 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 in proclaiming the Good News of salvation to others by our own lives and authentic Christian living. Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!