Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
† Sunday 4th February 2001

Theme: Called to serve the Lord!

The Prophet Isaiah 6 : 1 - 8
The prophet reflects upon his experience of being called by the Lord God. The sense of his own sinful unworthiness is compared with the overwhelming majesty and power of God, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord…his glory fills the whole earth.” The hot live coal taken from the altar touches his lips, “sin is taken away…iniquity purged.” Then Isaiah hears the voice of God, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?” So Isaiah answers, “Here I am, send me.”

First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15 : 1 - 11
“I am the least of the apostles,” says Paul, and “since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle, but by God’s grace that is what I am.” Now he reminds us all, “the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you - believing anything else will not lead to anything.” So what is this message? “Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he was raised to life on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.…he appeared to Cephas…the Twelve…more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive…and last of all he appeared to me.”

Gospel according to Luke 5 : 1 - 11
Simon and his companions, no doubt, experienced fishermen used to working and living on the inland sea of Galilee, having fished all night long had caught nothing. Their encounter with Jesus, and the immense catch of fish that followed that required both boats and the help of friends to bring to shore, is the prelude to the call of Simon. Like the prophet in the first reading, Simon falls at the knees of Jesus, “Leave me Lord; I am a sinful man.” But Jesus says to Simon, “Do not be afraid, from now on it is men you will catch.” So bringing their boats to shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.