Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Fishermen leave their nets and follow Jesus to be fishers of men


February 7, 2016

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

1In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of His garment filling the temple.[1][2] 2aSeraphim were stationed above. They cried one to the other, 3“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!” 4At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.[3]

5Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”[4]

6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7He touched my mouth with it, and said, “See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”[5]

8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”

Responsorial Psalm

R. (1c) In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

1I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth; in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise; 2I will worship at your holy temple and give thanks to your name.

R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

3Because of your kindness and your truth; for you have made great above all things your name and your promise. When I called, you answered me; you built up strength within me.

R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

4All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth; 5and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD: “Great is the glory of the LORD.”

R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

7Your right hand saves me. 8The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O LORD, endures forever; forsake not the work of your hands.

R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

Reading 2

1I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand.[6] 2Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

3For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; 4that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; 5that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 

6After that, Christ appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.[7] 7After that He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

8Last of all, as to one born abnormally, He appeared to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.[8] 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.


3Brothers and sisters, I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures;[9] 4that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; 5that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 

6After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7After that 
He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

8Last of all, as to one abnormally born, He appeared to me. 11Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.[10]


R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel 

1While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.[11] 2He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.

3Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, He asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then He sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4After He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

5Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. 7They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking.

8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” 9For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized Him and all those with Him, 10and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed Him.12] 



Notes on readings:

[1] Isaiah 6:1-3 - Temple: the holy place, just in front of the holy of holies. Seraphim: literally "the burning ones," are celestial beings who surround the throne of God. Each has six wings. Reverence for the divine majesty causes them to veil their faces with two wings; modesty, to veil their extremities in similar fashion; alacrity in God's service, to extend two wings in preparation for flight. Holy, holy, holy: God's perfect interior holiness whose exterior manifestation is His glory. These words are found in the Roman liturgy just before the Canon of the Mass.

[2] Isaiah 6:1 - In the year King Uzziah died: 742 B.C.

[3] Isaiah 6:4 - Smoke: reminiscent of the clouds which surrounded God at Mount Sinai; compare with Exodus 19:16-19; Deuteronomy 4:11, 12.

[4] Isaiah 6:5 - Doomed: it was popularly believed that to see God would lead to one's death; compare with Genesis 32:31; Exodus 33:20; Judges 13:22.

[5] Isaiah 6:7 - Touched your lips: Isaiah is thus symbolically purified to be worthy of his vocation as God's prophet. In the Roman liturgy, the celebrant at Mass makes reference to this incident just before he reads the gospel.

[6] 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 - Paul recalls the tradition (1 Corinthains 15:3-7), which he can presuppose as common ground and which provides a starting point for his argument. This is the fundamental content of all Christian preaching and belief (1 Corinthians 15:1-2, 11).

[7] 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 - The language by which Paul expresses the essence of the "gospel" (1 Corinthians 15:1) is not his own but is drawn from older credal formulas. This credo highlights Jesus' death for our sins (confirmed by his burial) and Jesus' resurrection (confirmed by His appearances) and presents both of them as fulfillment of prophecy. In accordance with the scriptures: conformity of Jesus' passion with the scriptures is asserted in Matthew 16:1; Luke 24:25-27, 32, 44, 46. Application of some Old Testament texts (Psalm 2:7; 16:8-11) to His resurrection is illustrated by Acts 2;27-31 ; 13:29-39; and Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12 and Hosea 6:2 may also have been envisaged.

[8] 1 Corinthians 15:9-11 - A persecutor may have appeared disqualified (ouk . . . hikanos) from apostleship, but in fact God's grace has qualified him. Compare with the remarks in 2 Corinthians about his qualifications (2 Corinthians 2:163:5) and his greater labors (2 Corinthians 11;23). These verses are parenthetical, but a nerve has been touched (the references to his abnormal birth and his activity as a persecutor may echo taunts from Paul's opponents), and he is instinctively moved to self-defense.

[9] [7] 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 - The language by which Paul expresses the essence of the "gospel" (1 Corinthians 15:1) is not his own but is drawn from older credal formulas. This credo highlights Jesus' death for our sins (confirmed by his burial) and Jesus' resurrection (confirmed by His appearances) and presents both of them as fulfillment of prophecy. In accordance with the scriptures: conformity of Jesus' passion with the scriptures is asserted in Matthew 16:1Luke 24:25-27, 32, 44, 46. Application of some Old Testament texts (Psalm 2:716:8-11) to His resurrection is illustrated by Acts 2;27-31 ; 13:29-39; and Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12 and Hosea 6:2 may also have been envisaged.

[10] 1 Corinthians 15:9-11 - A persecutor may have appeared disqualified (ouk . . . hikanos) from apostleship, but in fact God's grace has qualified him. Compare with the remarks in 2 Corinthians about his qualifications (2 Corinthians 2:163:5) and his greater labors (2 Corinthians 11;23). These verses are parenthetical, but a nerve has been touched (the references to his abnormal birth and his activity as a persecutor may echo taunts from Paul's opponents), and he is instinctively moved to self-defense.

[11] Luke 5:1-11 - This incident has been transposed from his source, Mark 1:16-20, which places it immediately after Jesus makes his appearance in Galilee. By this transposition Luke uses this example of Simon's acceptance of Jesus to counter the earlier rejection of him by his hometown people, and since several incidents dealing with Jesus' power and authority have already been narrated, Luke creates a plausible context for the acceptance of Jesus by Simon and his partners. Many commentators have noted the similarity between the wondrous catch of fish reported here (Luke 4:4-9) and the post-resurrectional appearance of Jesus in John 21;1-11. There are traces in Luke's story that the post-resurrectional context is the original one: in Luke 4;8Simon addresses Jesus as Lord (a post-resurrectional title for Jesus - see  Luke 24:34; Acts 2:36 - that has been read back into the historical ministry of Jesus) and recognizes himself as a sinner (an appropriate recognition for one who has denied knowing Jesus - Luke 22:54-62. As used by Luke, the incident looks forward to Peter's leadership in Luke - Acts (Luke 6:14; 9:20; 22:31-32; 24:34; Acts 1:15; 2:14-40; 10:11-18; 15:7-12) and symbolizes the future success of Peter as fisherman (Acts 2:41).

[12] Luke 5:11 - They left everything: in Mark 1:16-20 Matthew 4;18-22 the fishermen who follow Jesus leave their nets and their father; in Luke, they leave everything (see also Luke 5:28 hLuke 5:28; 12:33; 14:3318:22), an indication of Luke's theme of complete detachment from material possessions. 

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Dear Humanity,

I personally encourage everyone to emulate JESUS' values on LOVE, FAITH, HOPE
and CHARITY, as the humanity has been a failure; which resulted to the more than two (2) years of pandemic and its after-effects on economy, not only here in the Philippines but worldwide.

And the saddest part of it, is that, it affected the POOREST of the POOR to even extremely be more poorer, in exchange of the affluent to be more richer.

Thank you and may GOD bless you and the whole family to have an enjoyed life's journey at home, Church, schools/universities, corporate commitments, public and places of interest.