I AM WHAT I AM - 5TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2/6/2022)

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

February 6, 2022

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-22
Luke 5:1-11

I AM WHAT I AM

Have you ever felt unworthy to speak, write, or testify for the Lord? If so, join the club! Everybody is tempted to feel that way. We know what we are. St Paul says, "I am what I am." But we also know that God doesn't call the qualified, but rather he qualifies the called. Today we see examples of great men of God who felt unworthy of their mission - Isaiah, Paul, and Peter - and how God accepted them and used them in mighty ways.

ISAIAH

Our first reading is the account of Isaiah's call to the prophetic ministry in the year 742 BC while he was in the temple in Jerusalem. Isaiah had an overwhelming vision of the Lord on his throne "with the train of his garment filling the temple."

Seraphim are crying out, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory." Isaiah is overcome by this vision and experience of the Lord in his glory. He has a keen realization of his own unworthiness. "I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips..."

The Lord sends one of the seraphim to cleanse the lips of Isaiah with a burning ember. His wickedness is removed and his sin purged. The Lord asks, "Who will go for us?" Isaiah is now ready and responds, "Here I am, send me."

The Lord qualifies the called. The Responsorial, Psalm 138, is an echo of the scene just described, as well as Isaiah's prayer.

GOSPEL

Today's gospel depicts a beautiful scene of Jesus teaching from Simon's boat, then telling him to "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

Simon makes the point that they have fished all night without success, but then he adds, "At your command, I will lower the nets." We know the rest...the catch is so great that the nets were tearing and the boats were sinking!

The effect on Simon is dramatic. He kneels before Jesus and says, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." Jesus tells him, "Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men."

As with Isaiah, the Lord reassures Simon that his unworthiness is not an obstacle to his serving the Lord. The gospel ends with Peter, James and John leaving everything to follow Jesus.

1 CORINTHIANS

In the second reading, St. Paul is reminding the Corinthians of what he first preached to them: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. Jesus appeared numerous times after the resurrection to various people and groups. Finally, the Lord appeared also to Paul.

Paul feels his unworthiness: "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." It was the amazing grace of God that made Paul the great apostle that he was, unlikely as that would have seemed.

HE QUALIFIES THE CALLED

Isaiah, Paul, and Peter all knew that they were unworthy. Their experience has been repeated down through the ages in the lives of countless saints. Someone has said, "every saint has a history and every sinner has a destiny." And it is also said, "don't let your history determine your destiny." We are all, in fact, unworthy to do anything in the Lord's name. But don't let that stop you! Remember St. Paul, "But by the grace of God, I am what I am." Thank God, he qualifies the called!