Sunday, February 6, 2022

February 6, 2022: 5th Sunday in Ordinary (Ordinal) Time

The call of God isn't so much about how well-equipped we are, but the manner in which God demonstrates His power through us.

Clearly, when Isaiah sees the glory of God in the Temple, he is greatly filled with a sense of his unworthiness because he is among a people of unclean lips.  Yet God has the means to cleanse him so that he can be poised to hear the voice that speaks a call that appears to be directed to no one in particular.  And Isaiah, made ready, answers that call.

St. Peter must have had mixed feelings when Jesus told him to let down the net for a catch.  As a seasoned fishermen, he likely doubted this would do any good, but must have been stirred by Jesus's presence enough to follow the directive.  He was soon struggling to haul in an overwhelming catch, and then with his own unworthiness before the Lord Who could cause such a catch to happen.  Yet Jesus comes to St. Peter in his feelings of unworthiness, and reassures him, so that when they return to shore, St. Peter follows him.  Other fishermen with him do, too, having gone through the same experience.

Even St. Paul writes about his unworthiness to be an apostle and to experience an appearance of the Risen Jesus Christ.  Yet he recognizes that God's grace has works mightily in him, so that he is capable of preaching the reality of the Paschal Mystery, which he states in a stirring capsule summary earlier in the 2nd reading.

The Paschal Mystery is the ultimate way God demonstrates His power at work on our behalf.  So though we may be unworthy, we no longer have to be afraid, because God is able to equip us by His merits so that we can do His work of proclaiming the reality of Who He is and what He has done.  Indeed, He transforms us who believe.

So we can join with the Psalmist to declare that we, too, can sing in the sight of the angels, because we are not worthy so much on our own merits, or lack thereof, but on God's merits and His power.

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