Reading 1
In the year King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above.
They cried one to the other,
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!"
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, "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 that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it, and said,
"See, 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!"
Reading 2
I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,
of the gospel I preached to you,
which you indeed received and in which you also stand.
Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, Christ appeared to more
than five hundred brothers at once,
most of whom are still living,
though some have fallen asleep.
After that he appeared to James,
then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
he appeared to me.
For I am the least of the apostles,
not fit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and his grace to me has not been ineffective.
Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;
not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.
Therefore, whether it be I or they,
so we preach and so you believed.
Gospel
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening
to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."
Simon said in reply,
"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets."
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
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."
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
Reflection
Today’s readings show us that, although God does not need us, He wants us and chooses to enlist us, flawed as we are, to build up His kingdom. Isaiah in our first reading, Paul in our second, and Peter in the Gospel are all aghast at their own sinfulness as they behold the Lord God. Perhaps many of us experience a similar feeling of inadequacy, even fear, when we see all that holiness demands compared to our broken selves.
The Lord is not ignorant of our weakness, nor does He deny it. Rather, He offers us unlimited grace and love even in our sinful condition—and our ineptitude is no match for His love.
These stories about Isaiah, Paul, and Peter each underline a specific truth about how God relates to sinners. Isaiah worries that his unclean lips make him unfit for the Lord of Hosts. An angel then uses a burning ember to purify him. This episode shows us that God will purge us of all that holds us back from Him. While the process can be painful, it’s a gift, because through it, we learn to love and serve Him well.
Paul says that he is the least of the apostles due to his past sins. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective.” These words teach us an important truth: God’s grace is what will bear fruit in us. Paul even goes on to say that it is grace that has been working so hard in him, not his own toiling. Paul was a grievous sinner before he encountered the Lord and permitted God to work through him. Now, people come to believe through his preaching. Success is always and only due to God’s grace.
Peter shows us that we are freed from our feelings of despair and inadequacy when we cleave to Christ—not when we flee. Peter initially asks Jesus to depart, but Christ responds that he should not be afraid and offers him a mission. Peter and his companions respond by abandoning everything to follow Jesus. While our instincts might scream at us to escape God’s difficult plans, it is by embracing the Lord that we will overcome our fear.
Let us pray for the grace to rise above our self-doubts and follow Christ. Whatever obstacles we encounter, whether they are external or from our own weakness, we can abide in trust that God will give us everything we need to bear fruit—if only we let Him.
Please be assured of my prayers for you before Our Lord, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
+ Bishop Schlert
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