HOMILY OF THE 5TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR C
HOMILY OF THE 5TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME — YEAR C
HOMILY THEME: FROM SINNER TO FISHERMAN: BECOMING THE INSTRUMENT OF THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION
BY: Fr Cyril Duru
Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11
In today’s readings, we see the choice that God makes of the people he wants to announce the message of salvation. We notice the imperfections of the people called, the abandonment of their previous states of life and their non-resistance to be instruments of evangelization and salvation.-
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In the Gospel, we see Peter who recognized his sins before Jesus who made him catch an enormous quantity of fish. He says: “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man”. In the first reading, Isaiah, finding himself before the holiness of God, recognized that he was lost, being a man of impure lips among a people of impure lips. In the second reading, St. Paul says: “I am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God.” We know so well Paul’s story.
Despite these imperfections, God prepared and chose them for his saving mission. He does not call the perfect, but the imperfect to make them perfect. He purified Isaiah’s lips and sent him; he told Peter not to fear about his sins because he would become a fisher of men; Paul admitted: “By the grace of God […] I am what I am, and his grace towards me is not in vain.” Everything is the grace of God. By God’s grace, everyone in heaven today came from being a sinner to being a saint. The most pronounced examples are Paul, Matthew the evangelist, St. Augustine, St. Ignatius of Loyola, etc.
The grace of God has also prepared us for the same saving mission. In baptism we are purified and made kings, prophets and priests, equipped with the grace and capacity to be instruments of salvation in the hands of God. We are God’s instruments of salvation. We are Simon’s boat on which Jesus climbed to preach. We are Isaiah, Paul and Peter of today. We remember the words of Jesus: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me and sent me …” This Spirit was given to us in Baptism and confirmed in the sacrament of Confirmation when, as at Pentecost, we are sent out.
Today God wants to bring the good news to the poor, but only through our mouth, to feed the hungry, again with food in our homes, to bind up wounded hearts also with our hands, to free prisoners, through our interventions, to make peace in the world with our words, to visit the sick and those in prison with our feet. We are all God’s instruments to make the world better and for human salvation. He chose us for this. Let us not put up any resistance to this salvific call.
Peace and Love!
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