5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C, Year II)
Community Word: The grace of God empowers us to lovingly respond to Christ’s calling.
Theme: We lovingly respond to Christ’s calling when we preach and witness to the gospel.
Promise: “The Lord will complete what he has done for me; your kindness, O Lord endures forever.” (Ps 138:8)
Reflection:
The essence of being a Christian is our capacity to respond to Christ’s calling. Each of us has a special call from God to carry out a specific mission. As Catholics, it is therefore imperative to know and understand our faith so that we may properly respond to that calling. However, in the world we live in, we face many distractions and challenges that our faith journey becomes difficult. Sometimes, we are not even aware of or even distinguish our calling, preventing us from giving our ‘yes’ to the work of the Lord.
But praise be to God for the new life He gave us through the baptism in the Spirit that gave us a new birth in Jesus Christ. It is in the light of Christ’s saving grace that we see ourselves for who we are, our fallen nature, and our need for God’s hand to pick us up from the rubbles of our sins, allowing us to respond to His call to love God and neighbor.
Jesus is telling us, “My grace is sufficient for you,” (2 Cor 12:9). Indeed, it is only by His grace that we find the courage to say ‘yes’ to our call. In this Sunday’s readings, we see the grace of God at work in the lives of Isaiah, Paul, and Simon Peter, who, despite their own unworthiness, experienced the glorious and majestic, powerful presence of God. Recognizing and accepting their own limitations and nothingness before God enabled God’s grace to penetrate their beings so that they may give their unequivocal acceptance to their calling.
Isaiah said, “…woe is me, I am doomed, for I am a man of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts …then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?….Here I am, send me!” (Is 6:5, 😎. Paul said, “…as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace to me has not been ineffective…so we preach and so you believed.” (1 Cor 15:8-11). Lastly, Peter declared: “Depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of the fish they have made seized him…” (Lk 5:8-9. But Jesus made clear his call to Peter as he said, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” (Lk 5:10).
Like these men, God continually calls us to accomplish His purpose – to draw people to His kingdom and hear the Good News of our salvation, for His greater honor and glory. This is the call of Jesus, God’s beloved Son who laid down His life for us in obedience to the will of the Father that we may be reconciled again with Him, our Almighty God and Creator.
Our theme for this week exhorts us to readily and lovingly respond to the calling of Christ to preach and witness to the gospel. It requires humility of heart to give testimony on how God’s love transformed our life, how His forgiving grace brought us out of darkness to light, how we surrendered to God’s renewing power as we recognized Him as our Lord and Savior,
But, why do we sometimes refuse or hesitate to evangelize to others and testify to our own transformation? Perhaps we are swayed by fear, lack of trust, or even pride and insecurity. Sometimes, we may be stubborn or simply ignore God’s voice. In this situation, we need to quiet down and discern what the Lord is asking us to do. Let us remember that God does not call the qualified but qualifies the one He calls. He only desires our willingness to answer His bidding. Like Peter, we need to trust Jesus when He tells us, “do not be afraid.” We are assured of His promise, “The Lord will complete what he has done for me…your kindness endures forever,” (Ps 138:7).
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, thank You for the blessed assurance of Your grace, for only in You we move and have our being. We accept our nothingness before You, Lord, and rely solely in You, Your Holy Spirit to empower us to follow You, to say ‘yes’ to wherever You send us. Rekindle the fire in our hearts the passion to be like You, Jesus, to live a life worthy of our calling as children of God and as members of BLD. Make us hear Your voice amidst the noise around us, and grant us the grace to lovingly respond to serve Your call each moment of our days. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
- How do I respond when the Lord calls me to a specific work or mission in community? What hinders me from saying ‘yes’ when called to serve?
- What is my prayer to better serve God’s call in my personal and community life?
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
February 6, 2022 (Sun) – Is 6:1-6,3-8/ Ps 138:1-2,2-3,4-5,7-8/ 1Cor 15:1-11/ Luke 5:1-11
February 7, 2022 (Mon) – 1Kgs 8:1-7, 9-13/ Ps 132:6-7, 8-10/ Mk 6:53-56
February 8, 2022 (Tue) – 1Kgs 8:22-23, 27-30/ Ps 84:3, 4, 5, 10, 11/ Mk 7:1-13
February 9, 2022 (Wed) – 1Kgs 10:1-10/ Ps 37:5-6, 30-31, 39-40/ Mk 7:14-23
February 10, 2022 (Thu) – 1Kgs 11:4-13/ Ps 106:3-4, 35-36, 37, 40/ Mk 7:24-30
February 11, 2022 (Fri) – 1Kgs 11:29-32 – 12:19/ Ps 81:10-11, 12-13, 14-15/ Mk 7:31-37
February 12, 2022 (Sat) -1Ks 12:26-32 – 13:33-34/ Ps 106:6-7, 19-20, 21-22/ Mk 8:1-10
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
