Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 137;

I Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11

In today’s Eucharist, we are confronted with the reality of human sinfulness and weakness, and also with the power of God to use that weakness for his glory. For nothing is impossible with God.

Notes on the Readings

The First Reading

Isaiah has a vision of God in all his glory. Seeing God, he realises his own sinfulness. God removes his sin and Isaiah offers to do the work of God.

The Responsorial Psalm

As psalm of thanksgiving to God the source of all that is.

The Second Reading

Paul, the persecutor of the Church, is used by God as a means of spreading the Good News.

The Gospel

Peter has laboured in vain. Though a sinful man, he does what the Lord asks of him and the results are astounding. Peter leaves everything to help Christ in his work.

Reflection

`Duc in altum' -'put out into the deep' was the text Pope John Paul II chose as a spring­board for his reflection on the Jubilee Year at the close of 2000 in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte'. He wrote: `Duc in altum! These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with grati­tude, to live in the present with enthusiasm and look forward to the future with confi­dence. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).'

A decade on, these words are as relevant and important as ever for a proper Christian per­spective on the world and human events. Today predictions about the dire effects of cli­mate change continue to preoccupy us; there are wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world; the threat looms of a new and deeper famine in the Horn of Africa; the effects of recent natural disasters such as Haiti still afflict people around the world; we hear tales of varying degrees of political corruption in countries across the globe, including our own. At home, atheism is enjoying a boost from authors such as Richard Dawkins, and sometimes it seems our Christian faith and values are increasingly under pressure when to wear a crucifix or offer to pray for someone can lead to suspension from work.

In the midst of all this we need to keep sight of that fundamental truth of our faith: `Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever'. Times are probably no worse than at any peri­od in history and the Incarnation means that the Son of God made human in Jesus Christ came into the world precisely to raise us up from within the reality of human sin and fal­libility and he has promised to be with us to the end. To grasp the meaning of putting out into the deep is to embrace hope and to understand that even when things seem des­perate Christ can turn them round, bring success out of failure, abundance out of scarcity, and he achieves this through our faithful co-operation and ministry. As Christians both baptised and ordained, may our contin­ued response to Jesus' call chime with Isaiah's: `Here I am, send me!'

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 137;

I Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11

In today’s Eucharist, we are confronted with the reality of human sinfulness and weakness, and also with the power of God to use that weakness for his glory. For nothing is impossible with God.

Notes on the Readings

The First Reading

Isaiah has a vision of God in all his glory. Seeing God, he realises his own sinfulness. God removes his sin and Isaiah offers to do the work of God.

The Responsorial Psalm

As psalm of thanksgiving to God the source of all that is.

The Second Reading

Paul, the persecutor of the Church, is used by God as a means of spreading the Good News.

The Gospel

Peter has laboured in vain. Though a sinful man, he does what the Lord asks of him and the results are astounding. Peter leaves everything to help Christ in his work.

Reflection

`Duc in altum' -'put out into the deep' was the text Pope John Paul II chose as a spring­board for his reflection on the Jubilee Year at the close of 2000 in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte'. He wrote: `Duc in altum! These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with grati­tude, to live in the present with enthusiasm and look forward to the future with confi­dence. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).'

A decade on, these words are as relevant and important as ever for a proper Christian per­spective on the world and human events. Today predictions about the dire effects of cli­mate change continue to preoccupy us; there are wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world; the threat looms of a new and deeper famine in the Horn of Africa; the effects of recent natural disasters such as Haiti still afflict people around the world; we hear tales of varying degrees of political corruption in countries across the globe, including our own. At home, atheism is enjoying a boost from authors such as Richard Dawkins, and sometimes it seems our Christian faith and values are increasingly under pressure when to wear a crucifix or offer to pray for someone can lead to suspension from work.

In the midst of all this we need to keep sight of that fundamental truth of our faith: `Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever'. Times are probably no worse than at any peri­od in history and the Incarnation means that the Son of God made human in Jesus Christ came into the world precisely to raise us up from within the reality of human sin and fal­libility and he has promised to be with us to the end. To grasp the meaning of putting out into the deep is to embrace hope and to understand that even when things seem des­perate Christ can turn them round, bring success out of failure, abundance out of scarcity, and he achieves this through our faithful co-operation and ministry. As Christians both baptised and ordained, may our contin­ued response to Jesus' call chime with Isaiah's: `Here I am, send me!'