Homily 5th Sunday of Year C- Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
·
Isa 6:1-2a, 3-8;
·
Ps 138:1-5, 7-8;
·
1 Cor 15: 1-11
·
Luke 5:1-11
Surrendering our Unworthiness to God’s Throne and
Grace!
Today’s readings from the Prophet Isaiah, Saint Paul and
Evangelist Luke remind us among many other themes, of our unworthiness, our brokenness, as well the need
for us to always rely upon the grace of God in our missions, and in whatever we
do. We are to remember that it is about
God who takes initiative in calling us to our various states and offices in
life.
Behind the first reading of today there is a story of a
marching Assyrian army, marching to engulf Judah. Everybody is panicking
looking for what to hold on, including the two successive Kings, Ahaz and
Hezekiah. Ahaz wants to put his trust in foreign gods and rely on Assyria for
help, rather than the true God of Israel. When Isaiah was call to take up
this difficult mission of convincing and converting Ahaz from idolatry, from
Assyria to Trust in God, he thought he was not worthy. He said to himself, “Woe
is me, I am doomed!, for I am a man of unclean lips, living among people of
unclean lips.”
What is interesting in Isaiah, just like in the case of
Jeremiah and other calls in the Bible, is that he finally disposed himself
and surrendered himself, including his mouth, to God’s grace. His wickedness
removed, his mouth clean, and Isaiah was able to say, “Here I am Lord, send
me.” And I come to do you will. This who we are called to be. To always be able
to say, here I am Lord send me!
Isaiah’s call story is not different from that of Paul of
Tarsus. Behind Paul’s calling and conversion is God’s grace and initiative (Acts
9). It is only with the special grace God that he was chosen to embark on this
special mission of preaching the gospel of Christ to both Jews and Gentiles. By
no means should this make him pompous and arrogant, but he considers himself,”
the least of the apostles not even fit to be called an apostle.” Of course, his apostleship came from God not
from man, despite Paul’s unworthiness and old life style been a persecutor to
Christians. No wonder after his calling/conversion Paul proceeded to Arabia not
to Jerusalem to inform the others!
Like the Centurions’ words, which we repeat at every
mass, “Lord I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof, but only say the word
and my soul shall be healed,” Paul completely relied on God’s grace and throne
of mercy in all his missionary endeavors. He is a challenge to us today. Our
trust and reliance must be in the power of God, his Grace, his Love, his Mercy,
his Kindness, his Word and Command!
Of course, this
need is confirm in the Gospel narrative as well. Here, Simon Peter and other
fisher men had professionally toiled all night without catching any fish. They
could not catch anything on their own, except with the grace of God, at the
command of Jesus they were able to such a great number of fish that even
threaten to tear their nets. This so much touched Peter and his companions that
they left everything and followed Jesus, the source of grace and everlasting
wisdom.
In our present day life’s circumstances ( raising our
kids, working hard to pay our bills, visiting the aged, the sick, keeping our
vows, reaching out to the poor, preaching the gospel) we can learn from Moses,
we can learn from the prophets, Isaiah. We can learn from Paul. We can learn
from Simon Peter, to not only acknowledge our unworthiness, our limitedness,
our "unclean lips," our "least apostleship," but our
readiness to always rely on God’s grace and divine mercy (Exod 34:6-9).
Even when we are sick, weak and when we must have taken
our medication, see all our doctors and nurses, consult all our spiritual
directors, done all our home works ,duties, and responsibilities to our very
best, we always want to finally rely on God’s grace. Or surrender ourselves
upon the Grace of God's throne. And be able to say always, “here I am Lord, I
am not worthy, and I have tried my very best, but do with me whatever thou wilt.
Reflection Questions:
1.
How often do we rely on God’s grace, love, mercy, kindness, tenderness, compassion, in our life pursuits
and journeys?
2.
How often in the light today’s scripture passages reflect
on our unworthiness or uncleanliness?
3.
In what ways can we allow the Prophet Isaiah, Isaiah and
the gospel’s apostles to inspire us?
4.
How do we often assist members of our faith community to
respond faithfully to their callings in the light of Christian faith?
Homily [2]5th Sunday of Ordinary Year C:
Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
·
Isa
6: 1-2a, 3-8;
·
Ps 138:1-8;
·
1 Cor 15:1-11
·
Luke 5:1-11
The Need for God’s Grace on Our Missions!
There are many times we work hard, and toil
in life –but all seems to be in vain, not appreciated - except for
the grace of God that boost our trust in him. This message foregrounds today’s
Bible lessons. The grace of God legitimizes our missions!
The Disciples of Christ were toiling and
fishing all night in vain, in today’s Gospel reading. With frustration they
were washing their net ready to return home. But at the word of Jesus “Put out
into deep water and lower your nets for a catch,” they disciples were
overwhelmed with success. At the command of Jesus “they caught a great number
of fish and their nets were tearing. The weight of the fish also
threatened to sink the boat. Responding, the “sinful Peter” was on his knees. So also the rest of the disciples. They were
amazed at the Power of Christ. Following this, they were called to abandon,
their fish, net and even their families to follow Jesus, to be messengers of
God, fishers of men and women– which they did! This means, with God everything
is possible. With his grace we can let go certain things in our lives to follow
him, to trust more deeply, the Lord, as the Prophet Isaiah did in the first
reading.
In that first reading, the call story of
Isaiah is dramatically presented to us. It is like the appearance of God to
Moses on Mount Sinai (Exod 19:16-19). In that first reading, Isaiah sees the
"otherness" of God, the Holiness of God in his visions. Remember
holiness in Hebrew is not a personal quality of piety, but to be separate
from others. To be set apart. The God of Israel is Holy, Holy, Holy! He is the
holiest- the sovereign of all creations; the ruler of every nation. We learn
this reading that often we are like Isaiah man of unclean lips, living among
unclean people. Like Isaiah we or encouraged to believe in the Holy God, who
cleanses our lips and commissions us his messengers and servants in different
capacities that we have been placed. The authority and the grace of God
foregrounds all our life’s endeavors!
Paul found himself in similar situation
while preaching to the Corinthian community. In his journeys he met trials and
challenges. He knew prior to his experience on his way to Damascus (Acts 9), he
was once a sinner. But soon became an apostle least expected by human beings,
since he was known as a persecutor of the faith- enemy of the Church of God. God acts in a mysterious way. The reason that
Paul attributes all his successful missions to the grace and power of God: Paul
says, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been
ineffective. I have toiled harder than all of them, not I, but the grace of God
that is with me.”
We
are call to allow Saint Paul to inspire us. He challenges us to trust God more
and more and acknowledge the fact that with God everything is possible. Isaiah
and Paul challenge us in our various vocations and positions in life to always
rely on God’s grace, his holiness, no matter our personal weaknesses,
uncleanness and talents. This is applicable even to civil workers, factory
personnel, priests, religious and ministers of the Gospel. It is not
always about you, our egos. But it is about God! It’s only the divine authority
that legitimizes and foregrounds our missions! He is the one that initiates our callings!
As we celebrates today’s liturgy let us
reflect on those moments we have refused or resisted God’s in our lives? May
today’s scriptures assist us acknowledge our unworthiness and our need and dependence
on God the source of all Good things!
Reflection Questions:
1.
How often do we rely on God’s grace, love, mercy, kindness, tenderness and compassion in our life pursuits
and journeys?
2.
How often in the light today’s scripture passages reflect
on our unworthiness or uncleanliness?
3.
In what ways can we allow the Prophet Isaiah, Isaiah and
the gospel’s apostles to inspire us?
4.
How do we often assist members of our faith community to
respond faithfully to their callings in the light of Christian faith?
