5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isa 6:1-8
1 Cor 15:1-11
Lk 5:1-11
With this he touched my mouth and said: “See now, this has touched your lips, your sin is taken away, your iniquity is purged.”
Both the passages set for today’s First Reading and Gospel are familiar ones which have been used before. But when I went through them for today’s reflection, I realised that their ‘combination’ enabled several similarities to emerge. They both depict the calling of key figures in the Old and New Testaments respectively; the First Reading is about Isaiah, while the Gospel describes the first disciples. Those who were called felt completely unprepared and completely unworthy, but were ultimately redeemed through God’s grace. Isaiah declared himself unclean, but was purified when an angel touched his lips with an ember (which sounds painful but appropriately redemptive). The disciples were so frustrated after an unproductive evening of fishing that Peter seemed to scorn Jesus’ suggestion to put out the nets again, but when he realised who Jesus was, he couldn’t even face Him till Jesus encouraged him not to be afraid. (Indeed, even the Second Reading hints that Paul saw himself as at least an unexpected, if not unworthy, disciple.)
Perhaps, most importantly, everyone finally responded to God’s call, with Isaiah expressing his willingness to be sent and the first disciples leaving everything to follow Jesus. These similarities also reminded me of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish; although the worried disciples were sceptical about their meagre resources, they still obeyed Jesus’ direction and Jesus then enabled their participation in the miracle even though He could have done it all on His own.
These accounts, as well as the many other vocation stories we have heard, provide me reassurance that God is patient, understanding and persistent in His calls to us. He empathises if our initial reaction is doubt or fear or outright avoidance, and He doesn’t mind repeatedly reaching out to us over many situations or years (after all, some of the disciples at the multiplication of the loaves and fish had already been present at Peter’s miraculous catch but still doubted). Our Lord also doesn’t require us to be sufficiently ‘holy’ or even prepared in any way; Jesus spoke to Peter, James and John, as well as Levi/Matthew, as they were going about a normal day at work (which makes me wonder if I should also be aware of how the Lord may be speaking to me through the ups or downs or mundanities of my office life). Further, He already knows we cannot carry out our various missions on our own, though some part of me will always struggle with the notions of ‘worthiness’ and self-sufficiency. We just need to trust (or at least not doubt) in His plans and to do our best to respond in whatever way we can. Hopefully, we can be more aware of God’s gentle promptings to us today, in major or minor ways.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Jaclyn Lam)
Prayer: Jesus, thank you for loving us first, for believing in us first and for calling us first. We are sorry for the times we have not been aware of Your call or even avoided You. Please give us the wisdom, humility and courage we need to be open to Your presence and please be patient with us if we hesitate to respond to You. Help us to trust in You.
Thanksgiving: Lord, we give thanks for how the disciples and the saints bring us closer to You through their stories and struggles. We give thanks for their presence and prayers.
OXYGEN 
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