When everything falls into place
Feb. 9, 2025–Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-8; Psalm 138, R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.; 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11; Gospel–Luke 5: 1-11
The call of Peter in today’s Gospel reflects the traditional prophetic call dynamics. First there is a non-recognition of the call. Second, there is moment of recognition which is accompanied by a sense of unworthiness. Third, there is an assurance from God that results in a “yes” to the call.
In today’s narrative, Peter initially did not realize who got into his boat. After Jesus’ preaching, he instructed Peter to go out again and cast their nets.
While Peter narrated how unsuccessful they were the whole night, nevertheless, he obeyed.
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” (cf. Luke 5: 1-11) At this point, Peter still did not know who he was talking to.
This is our situation also. Often we do not recognize the presence and movements of God in our day-to-day life. It takes a “miracle” to jolt us into a realization of God’s presence and movements in our life.
In Peter’s case, twice, first in this narrative and second in the final Resurrection appearance in the Gospel of John, it was the “miracle” of the catch that made him recognize the presence of the Lord.
For us, what is the moment of recognition? What is the “miracle” that brought us to a realization of Jesus’ presence and movements in our life?
At the moment of recognition, Peter instantaneously felt a sense of unworthiness.
“When Simon Peter saw this [the ‘miracle’ of the catch], he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, ‘Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.’”
This is often our reaction also in the presence of God, a sense of unworthiness. This becomes even more pronounced when we are called to mission.
Moses felt this unworthiness. Who was he to deliver Yahweh’s message to Pharaoh?
Jeremiah also initially refused his call, feeling he was too young and would not know what to say or do.
Assurance
This sense of unworthiness is always met by an assurance from God. This was so for Moses and Jeremiah, and we see this in Peter’s case, too.
“Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’”
Then the “yes” came. “When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.”
This is the nature of the call to mission. Quite often we do not recognize the call at first.
But there is one characteristic of God’s call which I think is true for all of us. Our call or mission is very much intertwined with our life story, and it is God who comes to us, enters our world to call us.
Here we saw how the Lord entered Peter’s daily life as a fisherman. He went to Peter, rode his boat.
The same was true for Matthew. Jesus went to his customs post and from there called him to follow him.
Jungian author Robert Johnston has a beautiful image for this. He calls every event in our life as the slender threads of our story. In these slender threads, we do not readily and easily recognize God’s presence and movements, his plan and call.
But there is a moment when everything falls into place, a seemingly magical moment when the slender threads are woven together to form a magnificent tapestry. There we see God’s plan and call to mission—in the story of our life.
When this happens, we are in awe. We often feel that the beauty of our story and the grace of our call or mission is far greater than our wildest dreams.
And it is with humility and gratitude that we say “yes.”
This is why we resonate with the words of Fr. Horacio dela Costa, S.J., and I paraphrase: What does it mean to be a Christian? It is to know one is a sinner yet called to be a companion of Jesus under the standard of the Cross in his mission of salvation.
We pray that in this Jubilee Year of Hope, we may reconnect with and renew our call and mission, and our “yes” to the Lord.
