February 7, 2010
Fifth Sunday Ordinary Time
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
“Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” Isaiah 6:5-8
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Luke 5:8-10
Piety
Piety has its best expression in our doing our jobs as best we can. Peter was hard at work putting his nets away after he had cleaned them. Suddenly a crowd of people was on the scene and before Peter had a chance to say anything, a stranger pressed by the crowd was asking Peter if he could speak to the people from his boat. Sometimes in my imagination I see a couple of boats on the shore. It is a memory from my visit there years ago. It comes alive with the awareness that I could see Nazareth from there. I think to myself that Christ as a youngster could have played by that shore. Perhaps Christ even had gone out on the waters with Peter before. I like to think that Peter recognized Christ as an old friend. But whatever the case was, Peter pulled out from the shore far enough that Christ was safe from being pawed by the crowd. Peter is standing in the prow holding the boat steady with one of the oars and Christ is speaking to the crowds. I hear a variation of the Sermon on the Mount. Christ has said the same before. In my priesthood it has become easy to give a retreat because I am forever speaking on the goodness of the Lord. Peter is hearing what Christ said for the first time. The old friend has been changed by the start of his mission. Old friends of the President find it hard to call the President of the United States by his first name. It is always Mr. President. I hear Peter saying to Christ; “Master, depart from me. I am a sinful Man.” Our piety is an exposure to Christ which makes it possible to hear the Lord calling our name. Christ is calling us to follow him.
Study
We study those who have heard the Lord before us. We discover by our study of the Scriptures how faithful they are to what the Apostles have handed down. We do not try to put words into the mouth of Jesus. We try to hear what Jesus is saying to us when we listen to his words. Peter is a good example. He was not looking for Jesus. Jesus found him in his need for space so that he could talk to all rather than the one or two that were at his side. Jesus always has a special word for us. We have to listen more to our hearts than to our minds. Peter was tired from a night of work that failed to catch any fish. Christ told him to pull out from the shore and to drop the nets that he had cleaned. It was not the right time to fish. But after listening to the word of Jesus that had touched his heart, it made sense to obey what he had heard. The nets go down and it is one of the best catches he has ever made. He calls his neighboring boat and that is filled also. Jesus has said words that caught the attention of the heart of Peter even as they will catch the attention of our hearts if we but listen.
Action
We preach the word of God by the goodness of our lives. None of us are worthy to speak in the name of the Lord. The embers of the words of the Lord that cleanse our hearts are what make us worthy. We need to let our lives get caught up in living the word of the Lord. We have seen the Lord in the goodness of each other. Our eyes can get caught up in the beauty of what the Lord does in each other. The greatest of the intimacies of life is the Spiritual intimacy with Christ that cleanses our hearts and makes it possible to recognize who belongs to the Lord. We need to do the Ordinary things of our lives with the excitement of the Lord on our lips and faces. Whatsoever we do for the least person in our lives, the Lord will accept as done for himself. We need to reach out a helping hand as Peter did to those who are overburdened with the tasks of daily life. The hungry, thirsty, naked, imprisoned and the sick around us are how we help the Lord by giving the needs of others space in our lives even as Peter gave the Lord space in his boat. We need to sail on the ocean of God’s love that surrounds us in Jesus Christ who identifies with all the needy of our lives. All we need do is to reach out to the needy one of our lives who is with us now. But we cannot forget the needy that once had our attention by the dire straits they were in. The poor will always be with us as long as we love Christ and want to give him space in our lives.
