5th Sunday Ordinary Time February 9, 2025

Readings: Isaiah 6:1-9a, 3-8  1Cor 15:1-11    Lk 5:1-11

Many times we hear people when they are challenged to serve the Church, their immediate reactions are: ‘I am not suitable to become or to serve the Church.’ ‘I am busy now or I have so much work to attend to.’  But who among us is suitable to serve in the Church then? – Nobody!  It is because all of us could be found unsuitable in many ways.

In today’s three readings, Isaiah, one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament, Peter and Paul, two of the greatest apostles of Jesus in the New Testament, also express their deep inner sense of being unworthy or unsuitable to serve the Lord.  They all have the same conviction, which is shared by all who meet the Lord.

If Isaiah, Paul, and Peter are not worthy to serve the Lord, how much less worthy are we!  Their responses are our responses too; that is to serve and to take on the journey of conversion. That is to accept the invitation or even the challenge that God has placed in front of us. Jesus says to St. Peter, “Don’t be afraid” so that these few words are assuring Peter with his ongoing blessings on his chosen disciple. We are also chosen people of God in our own capacities, and we are encouraged to leave behind things and follow the Lord according to our circumstances.

Let us use this Sunday as a time to look deeper into our lives as Peter throughout the net into deeper water. That will be where God will enlighten us to find a way in assisting one another in seeking and understanding God.

                                                                             Fr. Terry.