Homily [2]5th Sunday
of Ordinary Year C: Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
Readings: Isa 6: 1-2a,
3-8; Ps 138:1-8; 1 Cor 15:1-11 and Luke 5:1-11
We Need 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. In fact, the “sinful Peter” was on his knees. And the rest of
the disciples were amazed at the Power of Christ. Soon after that 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! With
God everything is possible. Even, the grace to let go certain things in our lives!
In the first reading,
the call story of Isaiah is also presented in a very dramatic way! It is like
the appearance of God to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exod 19:16-19). 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. Even though Isaiah is a
man of unclean lips, living among unclean people, the Holy God, Isaiah believes, cleans his lips
and commissions Isaiah to be his messenger of judgment to his people. The
authority and the grace of God foregrounds Isaiah’s preaching, in spite of his
weaknesses as a man of unclean lips!
Paul found himself in
similar situation while preaching to the Corinthian community. In his journeys
he met trials and challenges. He knew he was once a sinner. The least expected
to be an apostles and agent of God, since he was known as a persecutor of the
faith- enemy of the Church of God. But Saint 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.”
These readings
challenge us to trust God more and more and acknowledge the fact that with God
everything is possible. We are challenged 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!
