Posted on febrero 7, 2025 View all Gospel Reflection
“Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)
‘Pick me, pick me!’ Sometimes during recess when you are making teams, friends would call out to their other friends to pick them for their team. Who doesn’t like to be on the same team as your friends? Who doesn’t like to be on a team with the best players?
In the past month or two I have enjoyed going to the CYO basketball games for the boys and girls teams. They play very nicely together and it is great to see them work together as a team. One of the best parts that I see is that they pray before and at the end of the games. This is a helpful witness to the children as well as the parents and those in the stands that it is important to center all of our activities around God (even those that seem be more removed from Him like sports).
In the readings for today, we see in each of them the call to serve God. But also in that call, we see a humble realization that we are not worthy. In Isaiah the prophet declared “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips;” (Is. 6:5) In the second reading we hear St. Paul declare “For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle.” (I Cor. 15:9) And even in the Gospel we see Simon Peter say to Jesus “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” (Luke 5:8)
I think we can all identify with these three persons. We are all indeed unworthy servants of God. We are all sinners and we are imperfect and ignorant a lot of the time. The thoughts are there to tell God to pick someone else because we are not the “right person” for the job he is calling us for. But Jesus wants to pick us since we are his friends – his brothers and sisters. Just look at who Jesus selected for his twelve apostles. In today’s Gospel we see Jesus walking along the shore and telling Simon Peter, James and John to put out into the deep and lower their nets for a catch. But they replied “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing.” (Luke 5:5) It looks like Jesus is picking fishermen to be his disciples. But not good fishermen, actually he picks these fishermen who work hard all night and have nothing to show for their efforts.
In the case of St. Paul we hear Paul testify that he was called by Jesus out of the blue. He says “Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me.” (I Cor. 15:9) But it is not just that he called Paul later than the others, he actually called Paul when he was in the middle of his active persecution of the Christians. Paul admits this himself when he says “For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (I Cor. 15:9)
But that is the beauty of the plan that Christ has for each of us. Jesus knows that we are unworthy. Jesus knows we are sinners. Jesus knows we are weak. But just as in the same way that an angel came and brought an ember with tongs from the fire at the altar to touch Isaiah’s lips and purge his sin, so too do we ask the angels to bring our gifts of bread and wine during the Eucharist to the altar on high in the sight of his divine majesty so that all of us, who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son (cf. Roman Canon/Euch. Prayer I). It is through these saving actions that the Lord strengthens us for the task he has in store for us. He knows our weaknesses, but he also has a plan to strengthen us if we but allow His grace to penetrate our souls. Let us be like Isaiah in our response to the Lord. Knowing that the Lord has purged us of sin, let respond to Him saying “Here I am, send me!”
