5th Sunday of the Year (C)

(Edited) Sunday Reflections (from) Liturgical Years 2011 (A), 2012 (B), and 2013 (C)

5th Sunday of the Year (C), February 10, 2013
Liturgical readings
Isaiah 6:1-2, 3-8
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

"They caught such a great number of fish that their nets were at the breaking point."

The three men whom Jesus first called to be His followers were fishermen. He needed laborers for His vineyard. He saw three fishermen (Simon Peter, James and John) working all night with their fish nets thrown alongside their boats, but were unable to catch fish. When Jesus witnessed this, He directed them to put out into the deep and lower their nets again. They did as they were told, and it did not take long for them to catch a great number of fish. It was such a big catch that their nets were almost at breaking point. Amazed at such a miraculous catch, all of them were seized with fear, especially Simon Peter. But the Lord reassured them, and told them not to be afraid. He had a vocation and a mission prepared for each of them.

What the Lord wanted Simon Peter, James, and John to do, is to be part of His mission - a mission to build God's kingdom. This kingdom seeks to teach all to place more importance to what is above; to raise minds and hearts to Heaven. It includes all states of life in the Church: not just clergy and religious, but all the lay faithful. It is the lay faithful who bring the gospel to marriage and family life, and to political, business and professional organizations. And in all these, like the clergy and the religious, they too work with perseverance and endurance in the demands of the Christian vocation - "to raise their minds and hearts to heaven". In this spiritual direction, everyone knows by faith that God does not abandon. For the Church in her Word and Sacrament always provide the encouragement needed in that mission: "...that they [all] may be fully mature and lacking in nothing" (James 1:3-4).

The universal call to holiness and mission is a call to all. It begins at baptism. God reassures each one (as He did with Simon Peter, James and John), that there is no need to fear. As long as each of the faithful continue each day to be faithful to his baptismal vows, then he obtains a better knowledge of God and becomes more faithful to Him. He contributes daily to the building of God's kingdom. That contribution is like a clear, life-giving stream that flows and adds to the river of life. Just as three fishermen turned back from their former way of life, and followed Christ, each of the faithful are also called to follow Christ. All are to adjust their sights from just secular concerns and to raise their "hearts and minds to heaven". For in this new spiritual direction do they discover and obtain the fullness they seek: in God's Word and Sacrament as the Source of all life and plenty.