5th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
February 6, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke 5:1-11<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This Sunday, we listen to the vocation stories of three great persons in the Bible: Isaiah, Paul, and Peter. Indeed, they have their own unique stories with a different context. Isaiah had a vision of the heavenly Temple of God. Paul was making his journey towards Damascus. In contrast, Simon was doing his job as a fisherman. However, there is something common with the three of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simon, Paul, and Isaiah admitted that they were sinners before God. The most obvious case is Paul, who used to be the persecutor of the Church. He was involved in many terrible sufferings of many Christians, and in fact, he saw the Lord in his mission to bind the Catholics in a chain in Damascus. Before the Lord, Isaiah claimed that he was a man of unclean lips and living among the people of the unclean lips. We are not entirely sure what \u2018unclean lips\u2019 means. It may refer to the sin of blasphemy that is insulting God\u2019s name. Another possibility is the sin of untruthfulness. Isaiah and the Israelites were living in lies and dishonesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Simon acknowledged before Jesus that he was a sinful man. Again, we are not sure what Simon\u2019s sin was. He might be someone who possessed anger issues, which affected his life and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The response of Jesus to Simon\u2019s admission of his sinfulness was not belittling his condition. Jesus never said, \u201cIt is fine. It is not a big deal!\u201d Jesus recognized Simon\u2019s human weakness and frailty. Perhaps, in His divine intellect, Jesus knew that Simon would eventually deny Him thrice and run away like a coward. Yet, Jesus still called Simon and said, \u201cDo not be afraid; you will be catching men.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God does not call Simon, Paul, and Isaiah because they are perfect and blameless men. God calls them despite their sinfulness and invites them to be part of His work. God makes Simon the fisher of men, Paul the greatest apostle to the nations, and Isaiah the great prophet of the Old Testament. Amazing things happen when we say \u2018yes\u2019 to God\u2019s plan. They failed and faltered, and God will raise them again. If we say \u2018no\u2019 to God\u2019s plan and our excuse is that we are sinful, weak, and incapable, that is false humility and, in fact, lack of faith. We do not trust God enough that He can transform us into a better version of ourselves. We doubt that God will equip us for the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, it is equally vital always to remember who we are: both weak and sinful as well as loved and called. We cannot be boastful if we succeed in our ministries because apart from God, we are nothing. Paul said in his letter that he is the most hardworking among all the apostles, but immediately he admitted that it was because of the grace of God [see 1 Cor 11:10]. Paul eventually concluded, \u201cWhoever boasts should boast in the Lord [1 Cor 1:31].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]
\nFebruary 6, 2022
\nLuke 5:1-11<\/p>\n
This Sunday, we listen to the vocation stories of three great persons in the Bible: Isaiah, Paul, and Peter. Indeed, they have their own unique stories with a different context. Isaiah had a vision of the heavenly Temple of God. Paul was making his journey towards Damascus. In contrast, Simon was doing his job as a fisherman. However, there is something common with the three of them. What are those?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,58,67],"class_list":["post-11125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-english","tag-sunday-reflection","tag-valentinus-bayuhadi-ruseno"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11126,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11125\/revisions\/11126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}