Here I Am: Reflections on the Readings for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

There is always calling and sending in our spiritual lives. There is a lot of calling in today’s readings. One thing that comes out, though, is that God calls first. Even when we say, “When I called, you answered me,” we are usually responding to some prompting or situation that reminds us to call on God.

The first reading from Isaiah is specifically about Isaiah’s calling to be a prophet. Isaiah has a vision of God in His temple, being tended to by seraphim. He witnesses their song of praise, the same one we declare at every mass, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!” At this point, Isaiah is overwhelmed by his human failings, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips.” As Bishop Sheen notes in his book, Life of Christ, “There must always be an emptying of the human before there can be a filling with the Divine.”

One of the angels purges Isaiah of his sin with the help of fire, an ember taken from the fire on the altar. Reading through the Old Testament (e.g., the Pentateuch) we find that God commanded that the altar for sacrifices kept a fire burning continuously. The fire of the continuous burnt offering is also mentioned in Daniel (Chapter 8). As we know in mass, our sacrifice is united with the worship in heaven as we ask that God “command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty.” (Eucharistic Prayer I)

The song of the angels in this scene of the vision of heaven, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!"  reminds us of St. John’s vision of heaven recorded in Revelation 4:8 where we hear the acclamation, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.”

And then he heard the Lord’s call asking, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah answered as we all should when called upon by the Lord, “Here I am, send me.”

In what could be a continuation of this scene, the praising of the Lord continues in the responsorial psalm, “In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.” It seems here that the psalmist has first called out to the Lord, Who answered. But we know, also from Revelation, that Jesus is waiting at the door for us to answer (Rev. 3:20). As Bishop Sheen noted, “He seeks us before we dream of seeking him; he knocks before we invite him in; he loves us before we respond.”

Recall also Jesus’s explanation to the Apostles when teaching them the Lord’s Prayer, which we recite at every mass, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8)

Also in alignment with the Our Father, the psalmist says, “... you have made great above all things your name and your promise” (as in “Hallowed be thy name). And the praise of the Lord will not be restricted to the Jews, but will include all of the earth, Gentiles included. “All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O LORD ... and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD: "Great is the glory of the LORD."”

While not explicitly stated these two readings imply that these good things, for which we praise God, are the result of His grace. This comes out in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” When I was at the Naval Academy we had a nickname for those who ranked at the bottom of the class – “sandblasters.” The phrase that went with them was, “there but for the grace of God, go I.” And that’s true for all of us. Our faith is due to the grace of God. The real question for us is, have we accepted God's grace.

This reading has a shortened version which omits this factor of God’s grace. After Paul’s description of Jesus’s resurrection and appearance to Peter, the apostles, the brethren and subsequently to Paul himself, he describes with humility his unworthiness as he had been a persecutor of the Church. He notes that despite this and his toiling, the results of his work is due to God’s grace, rather than any ability on his part. He also notes that regardless of who is preaching, it is Jesus who effects our belief.

The gospel reading continues the theme of calling as Luke describes Jesus getting in Simon’s boat to preach to those on the shore. Having finished delivering His message He tells Simon to, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." Despite toiling all night having caught nothing Simon, probably recognizing something in Jesus or His preaching, says, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets." This also brings to mind the words of Mary at the wedding at Cana, “Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5) Recall some of His followers were with Jesus at the time, and so Simon was probably one of them (since we know John, who was a partner of Simon was there).

And as the water was turned into the best wine, here following Jesus’s command resulted in an unprecedented abundant catch, so much so that the partners (John and James) had to come help. As with Isaiah, Simon is overwhelmed by the power and presence of Jesus: "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." At this point, Jesus completes the calling, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." Luke then tells us, “they left everything and followed him.”

Fishing was important to these men; it was their livelihood. This is one of the first instances where Jesus tells someone to put everything behind them in order to follow Him. This is the recurring message in the New Testament, as with the Old; we need to put God first before everything else. Just as Jesus told the rich young man to leave what was important to him and follow Him (Matthew 19:16-22), so we need to be humble like Isaiah and Simon and put God first.