Readings: Is 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Cor 15:1-11; Lk 5:1-11
In the three readings today, we hear about three people who recognized their own sinfulness. However, when we look more closely at the texts, we realize that these men were not merely acknowledging that they are sinners, they were deeply convicted of their sinfulness due to their experience of the holiness of God. Following their experiences with God, each of these men radically changed their lives and they embraced the call given to them by the Lord.
We must be very clear about this pattern of recognizing one’s own sinfulness and, therefore, one’s own unworthiness, before entering into the service of the Lord. Without this deeper conviction, one might think himself worthy of such a call or feel like he has earned this by his own doing; one might feel superior because of the call, or one might feel entitled because of the position to which God has brought him.
In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah tells the story of his own calling. We notice that he does not merely focus on the call itself, but describes in great detail the events preceding the call. He begins with the crying out of the seraphim, the highest choir of angels and, therefore, the nearest to God, who profess God to be holy, holy, holy. The word “seraphim” means “fiery ones” because they are on fire with the love of God. Suffice to say that we would not be able to look upon them and survive. Yet they are the ones proclaiming the holiness of the Lord.
Recall that Hebrew does not have superlatives. If one is holy, then that is the word used to describe him. If one is holier, then he is holy, holy. But God alone is the holiest, so He is holy, holy, holy. So, Isaiah was shown the Lord seated upon a high and lofty throne while the seraphim proclaimed His holiness. Other signs of God’s glory are present as well, but it all results in Isaiah recognizing his sinfulness and, therefore, his unworthiness.
Thinking he was going to die because he saw the Lord (for no one can look upon the Lord and live), Isaiah acknowledges his sinfulness as being a man of unclean lips. Rather than taking his life, God sends a seraph to take a burning ember from the altar and touch the lips of Isaiah to purify him. All this is fitting because the sacrifices offered on the altar were to make atonement for sin and the lips of Isaiah were touched so he could go to preach for the Lord. Only after Isaiah acknowledges his sinfulness and his lips are purified does God ask for someone to go for Him and Isaiah responds by saying, “Here I am; send me.”
In the second reading, St. Paul, reflecting on his call, says he is not fit to be an Apostle because he persecuted the Church of God. He says it is by the grace of God that he is an Apostle and that God’s grace in him has not been ineffective, allowing St. Paul to toil harder than the other Apostles. So, recognizing his own unworthiness, St. Paul preached Jesus, His death and His resurrection, and people believed. St. Paul knew his sinfulness and responded to God’s call by seeking only the good of the people and the glory of God.
In the Gospel, St. Peter, after toiling all night and catching nothing, lowers his nets at the command of Jesus and makes an extraordinary catch, to the point of filling two boats until the boats nearly sank. Rather than simply being amazed or even grateful, which I assume he was, St. Peter responded by confessing his sinfulness and his unworthiness to be in the Lord’s presence. Clearly, more was happening than making a massive catch of fish. Jesus tells Peter not to fear and calls Peter from being a fisherman to being a fisher of men. Peter, and those with him, left everything and followed Jesus.
You and I have been called by our Lord as well. Perhaps the call we received was not as extraordinary as the three calls presented in today’s readings, but that is most likely because God has not called us to something as extraordinary as the vocations of Isaiah, St. Paul, and St. Peter. Nonetheless, each of us has been called to a vocation for which we are not worthy and, it is possible that within that vocation (like St. Peter who was married), God is calling us to something more. Only prayer will reveal this, but regardless, in order to do God’s will, we must first be deeply convicted of our sinfulness and be purified. Then, in a spirit of grateful service, we must be willing to do whatever the Lord asks and follow Him!
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
