5th
SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C
YEAR OF THE YOUTH
FEBRUARY 10, 2019
Jesus, I trust in you!
The prophet Isaiah saw God in a
vision. He was seated on a high and lofty throne and the seraphim unceasingly
praise him: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts! All the earth is filled
with his glory.” What does it mean when the angels say that God is holy? The
holiness of God means that God is unlike any of his creatures. He is supreme in
his perfection and dominion. The word holy is the opposite of the word
“profane” which means “common,” “vulgar,” “secular,” “not worthy of reverence,”
and “not consecrated.” God is above all creation. In his being, God possesses
an absolute purity and dignity which is necessarily infinitely above every
creature. In his will, God possesses an absolute rectitude or goodness.
The strange thing about our holy
God is that he calls and sends forth sinners. Isaiah was deeply troubled by the
vision because he was a man of unclean lips and he came from a people with
unclean lips. When God became man, he chose Peter as fisher of men. Peter said
to him, “Depart from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man.” Jesus also appeared
to Paul who was a self-confessed persecutor of the faith. Sinners like Isaiah,
Peter and Paul were chosen by God to be the bearers of his message to the
world. He does not call the qualified (for nobody is qualified) but rather, he
qualifies those he called. He commanded the seraphim to take an ember from the
altar to touch Isaiah’s lips with it: “See, now that this has touched your
lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.” The Lord Jesus assured
Peter, James and John: “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching
men.” Jesus sent Ananias to Paul to baptize him. Ananias said to Paul, “The God
of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and
to hear the sound of his voice: for you will be his witness before all to what
you have seen and heard.” This made St. Paul later on write: “We hold this
treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God,
not of us.” (2 Cor 4:7)
We often hesitate to accept the
mission to bring the Gospel to others. Our usual excuse is that we feel
unqualified for the job. “I am not prepared.” “I know nothing.” “I am a
sinner.” “I am unqualified.” But who is qualified? No one is. The reason for
the choices God makes will always be the mystery of his wisdom. He chooses to
send not the qualified but the willing. All we have to do is to say: “Here I
am, Lord, send me.” All we have to do is to leave everything and follow him.
Once you do this, you will be surprised to find out how his grace will work in
you and through you. He will transform you and make you like himself. He will
use you to transform others. All you have to do is abandon your fear and say:
“Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.”
O Mary conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to thee!
No comments:
Post a Comment