Catechism Links [1]
CCC 520, 618, 923, 1618, 1642, 2053: All are called to follow Christ
CCC 2144, 2732: Awe in God’s presence vs. presumption
CCC 631-644: The
Apostles as witnesses of the Resurrection
 |
| “Call of the Sons of Zebedee” by Marco Basaiti,1510 |
Readings and
Commentary: [4]
Reading I: Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8
In 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.
Seraphim were stationed
above.
They cried one to the
other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the
LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled
with his glory!”
At the sound of that
cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled
with smoke.
Then 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!”
Then one of the seraphim
flew to me,
holding an ember that he
had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with
it, and said,
“See, now that this has
touched your lips,
your wickedness is
removed, your sin purged.”
Then I heard the voice
of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I
send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said;
“send me!”
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Commentary on Is 6:1-2a, 3-8
The Prophet Isaiah tells us the
story of his call: “In the year King Uzziah died” (742 B.C.). The prophet first
relates his belief that he will die, since it is the common belief that no one
who had not been purified could see the face of God and live. Then one of the
seraphim took a coal from the fire at the altar (there would have been a fire
for burning the holocaust, a sacrificial offering completely burnt as opposed
to simply slaughtered), and flew to him.
With that coal, the seraphim touched
Isaiah’s lips in symbolic cleansing, making the prophet worthy to proclaim
God’s word. The Church remembers this event with the priest’s blessing of
himself or the deacon before proclaiming the Gospel at Mass with the words:
“May the Lord open my lips that I may proclaim the Holy Gospel worthily and
well, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
The reading closes with the phrase
that has become a lyric that we express in the song: “Here I am Lord”
and many other hymns.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
R. (1c) In the sight of the angels I
will sing your praises, Lord.
I 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;
I 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.
Because 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.
All the kings of the
earth shall give thanks to you, O LORD,
when they hear the words
of your mouth;
and 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.
Your right hand saves
me.
The 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.
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Commentary on Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
Psalm 138 is a song of
thanksgiving. The response we use in this song of thanksgiving and praise recalls
for us Isaiah’s vision of the seraphim in Isaiah 6:2-7. We
are also reminded of God’s saving power and his enduring faithfulness.
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Reading II
Longer Form: 1
Corinthians 15:1-11
I am reminding you,
brothers and sisters,
of the gospel I preached
to you,
which you indeed
received and in which you also stand.
Through it you are also
being saved,
if you hold fast to the
word I preached to you,
unless you believed in
vain.
For I handed on to you
as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our
sins
in accordance with the
Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on
the third day
in accordance with the
Scriptures;
that he appeared to
Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, Christ
appeared to more
than five hundred
brothers at once,
most of whom are still
living,
though some have fallen
asleep.
After that he appeared
to James,
then to all the
apostles.
Last of all, as to one
born abnormally,
he appeared to me.
For I am the least of
the apostles,
not fit to be called an
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.
Indeed, I have toiled
harder than all of them;
not I, however, but the
grace of God that is with me.
Therefore, whether it be
I or they,
so we preach and so you
believed.
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Commentary on 1 Cor 15:1-11
St. Paul delivers an apologia (a
defense) on the basic tenet of the faith: Christ died for our sins and
following his death there was a physical resurrection. He goes on to offer
proofs that Jesus was raised from the dead by giving what amounts to a chronology
of his post-resurrection appearances, in which he includes his own vision on
the road to Damascus.
St. Paul concludes this selection
as he professes his own witness, marking himself as least among the Apostles
(because of his earlier role as emissary of the Sanhedrin, persecutor of the
Church). It is supposed that this chapter is directed at refuting those who
believe there was no physical resurrection.
CCC: 1 Cor 15:3-5 186; 1 Cor 15:3-4 639, 652; 1 Cor 15:3 519, 601, 619, 624; 1 Cor 15:4-8 642; 1 Cor 15:4 627; 1 Cor 15:5 552, 641; 1 Cor 15:7-8 857; 1 Cor 15:8 659; 1 Cor 15:9 752
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OR
Shorter Form: 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 11
Brothers 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;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on
the third day
in accordance with the
Scriptures;
that he appeared to
Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, he appeared
to more
than five hundred
brothers at once,
most of whom are still
living,
though some have fallen
asleep.
After that he appeared
to James,
then to all the
apostles.
Last of all, as to one
abnormally born,
he appeared to me.
Therefore, whether it be
I or they,
so we preach and so you
believed.
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Commentary on 1 Cor 15:3-8, 11
This shorter form of St. Paul’s
synopsis of his profession of faith in Christ Jesus does not include the
evangelist’s exhortation, that the community of Corinth had received and
accepted the Lord. It is a straightforward profession of the reality of Jesus'
resurrection and return following that event.
CCC: 1 Cor 15:3-5 186; 1 Cor 15:3-4 639, 652; 1 Cor 15:3 519, 601, 619, 624; 1 Cor 15:4-8 642; 1 Cor 15:4 627; 1 Cor 15:5 552, 641; 1 Cor 15:7-8 857; 1 Cor 15:8 659; 1 Cor 15:9 752
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Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
While the crowd was
pressing in on Jesus and listening
to the word of God,
he was standing by
the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there
alongside the lake;
the fishermen had
disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting 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.
After he had finished
speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water
and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked
hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I
will lower the nets.”
When they had done this,
they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were
tearing.
They 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.
When Simon Peter saw
this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord,
for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the
catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and 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.”
When they brought their
boats to the shore,
they left everything and
followed him.
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Commentary on Lk 5:1-11
St. Luke’s Gospel presents the call
of St. Peter, St. James, and St. John to discipleship. The Lord has
demonstrated his authority through his teaching, and then through the
miraculous catch of fish. We note the similarity of this incident with the
post-resurrection incident recounted in St. John’s Gospel (John 21:1-11).
At Jesus' summons, Simon and the
two sons of Zebedee leave all they have and follow the Lord. No mention is made
here of Simon’s (Peter’s) brother Andrew who would also have been there, and in
fact, as a disciple of John the Baptist, actually introduced the two (John 1:41 ff). We do
hear that James and John, Zebedee’s sons were also there as Simon’s partners,
and are called at the same time.
Simon Peter’s response to the
Lord’s call is one of being sinful and therefore unworthy of the presence of
the Lord. In response to Simon’s fearful humility, Jesus invites them all to
leave what they have and become fishers of men.
CCC: Lk 5:8 208
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Homily:
Today we hear about the
call from God to ordinary people. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah we
hear part of his own call: How he had a vision of heaven and how God sent
messengers to him, first, to purify him and then to invite him saying, “Whom
shall I send? Who will go for us?”
How could Isaiah
resist? He replies with words that have used as lyrics in a multitude of
songs sung by Christians throughout the millennia: “Here I am,” I said;
“send me!”
In St. Paul’s letter to
the Corinthians the call is almost invisible, inserted, as it is, in the
evangelist’s profession of faith in the resurrection. He simply reminds
the Corinthians of his own conversion saying: “Last of all, as to one born
abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles.”
Finally the Gospel
of St. Luke tells us about the call of Peter and the sons of Zebedee,
James and John. They were called directly by the Savior, receiving the
full force of God’s invitation. While he is not mentioned in this
passage, Andrew, St. Peter’s brother, was also brought into membership with
Christ at that time. These four became special friends of the Lord and
shared a special bond.
As these stories are
presented, we are reminded of another story. It was not spectacular and
not many have heard it before. It is the story of a young man born in
Ovid Center in upstate New York in the nineteenth century to Irish immigrants.
His name was Patrick Shean and he was the third of five children in his
family. His story comes mostly from letters between Patrick and his sister
Mary. While he was intelligent and physically healthy, there was really nothing
exceptional about him. His parents were good people, and made sure all of
the children went to school and went to Mass regularly.
When Patrick was about
ten years old, his sister noticed that Patrick was a very spiritual boy.
He often helped the local priest at Mass and even in other ways with chores
around the church grounds. According to Mary it was she who suggested to
him that maybe he could be a priest one day. According to her, Patrick’s
response was instantaneous. He told her she must be completely out of her
mind. He was going to go west when he was old enough to take up a trade
and become a merchant like Mr. O’Doul, who ran the local mercantile store.
For a quite a while, it
appeared as if Patrick was going to do just that. He finished school
surprisingly well and got a job with Mr. O’Doul. But something else
seemed to be happening as well. He was drawn more and more to the
Church. According to what he told his sister in strictest confidence
because he didn’t want it getting out and tarnishing his reputation as a hard
headed business man, he felt called do something more for God than just go to
Mass and say his prayers.
Apparently he was not as
secretive as he thought about what he was feeling because it wasn’t much later
that he was completely surprised when Mr. O’Doul himself asked Patrick if he
had thought of becoming a priest. Patrick told Mary later that he had
been quite embarrassed by the question and explained to his employer that he
really had plans of being just like Mr. O’Doul. To which O’Doul had
shrugged and said if Patrick ever changed his mind, he’d help him pursue a
vocation to the priesthood.
During the next few
years three other people made the same suggestion, his best friend Jeremy (with
whom Patrick had tipped over Mr. Englhardt’s out-house as a prank one summer
night), his mother, who had suggested it with the strangest look in her eyes,
and finally his parish priest who as it turns out was an Oblate.
Right up to the day Fr. Robert had asked, Patrick had denied that he could
possibly have a vocation. But, in August of 1903, Patrick left for seminary
in New York. The letters to Mary during that period showed that he
was far from certain that he had made a good choice, and more than once he
thought of returning to Mr. O’Doul. Each time these impulses came, it
seemed that Patrick would either hear something from a classmate or get that
feeling that God wanted more from him.
He was ordained a priest
in1909 and ended up going west after all, as an Oblate priest headed for the
wilds of Minnesota. His life as a priest was a blessing to those he
served and while Fr. Pat Shean’s name is not one in the list being considered
for sainthood, most who knew him were sure he was with them in Heaven.
We tell his story today
not because he had a spectacular career, but rather because his call is so like
the call each of us hears. We are not likely to have a vision of angels
with glowing embers like Isaiah. We are not likely to be knocked off a
horse and blinded like St. Paul. It is highly unlikely that we will
be approached at work by God himself who will tell us to follow him.
Rather our call is likely to come from those who know us, ordinary people who
sometimes speak with the mouth of God, inviting us to take up the yoke of
service in his name. When this happens, remember the words of Isaiah: “Here
I am!”, “Send me.”
Pax
In other years on this
date: Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation
for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2]
The picture is “Call of
the Sons of Zebedee” by Marco Basaiti,1510.
[4]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the
psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
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