Sunday Gospel Reflection (February 9, 2025)

Purify the Lips of Our Religious Leaders!

St. Peter is a man of bold proclamations. Even when it makes us uncomfortable, this is what we want in our popes. The Gospel reading from today is one of two very important connections that St. Peter has to the book of Isaiah, which is where our first reading comes from today. The other is the connection of the keys between Matthew 16:19 and Isaiah 22:22, but that is a different reflection. This connection, from today’s Luke 5:1-11 and Isaiah 6:1-8, in a way precedes that one because St. Peter’s confession of faith that we find later is built upon his recognition of his need for purification and the role Jesus has in providing it. 

Purification is all about worship

We get a beautiful Psalm today, which calls us to sing God’s praises in the sight of the angels. This is almost a kind of retelling of the beginning of the Isaiah story, where he is brought in the presence of the angels. It is after his lips are purified that he is able to sing God’s praises like the angels have been. We often talk about, and rightly so, the importance of confession before receiving the Eucharist, but how often before even discussing the very act of praise and worship? Even the reception of the Eucharist, while it is something given to us, is an act of praise and worship given to God because Jesus, including his body, is the one praising God perfectly in heaven. Our union with that body is what brings us into that worship. 

Purification for Passing Down the Faith

There is too much talk already on the conflict between Christian faith groups that reject tradition and the Catholic importance of Sacred Tradition. Suffice it to say first that “tradition” is unavoidable for any Christian group and Sacred Tradition is necessary to an authentic, historic Christianity. This section from St. Paul’s 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 is just one piece of evidence. The fact that he ties it to the Resurrection of Jesus, another sine qua non of Christianity, should not be ignored. The significance I want to draw upon is its placement in this collection of readings. In order to authentically pass down the faith, our leaders must experience the purification of Isaiah from the first reading and continue to beg for the purification of St. Peter from the Gospel reading. This will not only ensure that the content itself is pure, but that it is done in an authentic and powerful way.