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Word To Life
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Sunday Scripture Readings, Feb. 7, 2010
By Sharon K. Perkins
Catholic News Service
February 7, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle C Readings:
Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
Psalm 138:1-5, 7-8
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
I've never been in the presence of royalty, but I recall watching the television coverage some years ago of the marriage of Prince Charles of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer. The royal entourage alone was impressive, as was the sight of thousands of subjects lining the parade route for hours, waiting to catch a glimpse of the bridal party. By the time the carriage appeared, excitement was at a fever pitch.
Although the parade came and went relatively quickly, no doubt the spectators excitedly recounted the experience to their family and friends for months afterward, as if their very presence at the parade imbued them with some share of the royal couple's celebrity.
The prophet Isaiah in today's reading recounts a similar but far more extraordinary experience. In an ecstatic vision, he finds himself in the presence of the Lord of hosts, surrounded by a heavenly entourage of seraphim crying out in praise.
Isaiah is so awed by the sight that he immediately feels overcome by his own sinful inadequacy. But with one angelic touch of an ember to his lips, he is not only purged of his sin but empowered to offer himself as a divine messenger -- a mission that has had tremendous and lasting importance for God's people to this day.
In today's Gospel, Peter's lack of faith and his experience of Jesus' authority to overcome that failing are equally overwhelming -- so much so that he, with his partners James and John, leaves everything to follow Jesus.
St. Paul, the former persecutor, recognizes himself as undeserving of forgiveness, but "by the effective grace of God" he leaves behind his old life to preach the saving word of the Gospel of Christ to everyone within earshot.
We, the disciples of Jesus today, are the beneficiaries of their Spirit-filled response.
It's one thing to stand around the office water cooler and recount one's brush with celebrity. It is quite another to share one's faith in Christ with courage and enthusiasm. (Pope John Paul II called this impulse in our age the "new evangelization.") Yet we -- touched by the embers of his holiness and empowered by the Holy Spirit -- are given numerous opportunities to do so in the course of each day, whether to strangers whose names we will never know or to members of our own families. It is the legacy of the prophets and the apostles -- and it is our sacred calling.
QUESTIONS:
What keeps you from being a courageous and enthusiastic evangelizer? How can you seek the divine ember of God's touch to overcome this obstacle?
SCRIPTURE FOR ILLUSTRATING:
"For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received" (1 Corinthians 15:3a).
END
Copyright © 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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