Super Bowl | February 7, 2016

February 7, 2016

Today’s gospel reminds us that when Jesus calls us, it probably means that we will need to change our ways, “’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.” Peter’s pride made him doubt Jesus’ request to change the way they normally did things, but when Jesus’ way turned out to be better than his own way he was humbled to his knees in shame thinking that he was too sinful to even be in the presence of Jesus. Raise your hand if pride has ever caused you to doubt that God’s plans are greater than yours. Raise your hand if the workings of Christ in your life has ever made you feel like you don’t deserve his love because of your own sin. We are not alone in these and Peter shows us that following the Lord is a process and like David who sinned in big ways, we must stay as close to God as possible acknowledging our weaknesses and praising Him always.

Jesus can handle our sin, our ignorance, our doubt, our stubbornness, our arrogance, our pride…it is you and I that cannot handle being as we are before the Lord, and we may be the ones crying out, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am sinful.” The good news is that Jesus’ response to us is the same, “Do not be afraid. Now you will be____________” (fill in your particular calling). If you don’t know exactly what that calling is, pray about it, pay attention to the things in your life that God is changing, let the Holy Spirit reveal it to you, and then leave everything (that He wants you to give up such as addictions, sin, behaviors, lukewarm faith, doing things your ways, bad influences, gossip, vices, laziness, etc.) and follow Him.

Peter is such an animated and wonderful character for us to study. He always puts his whole self into everything and that is exactly what God wants from each one of us – our all. Yes, we might make fools of ourselves in the process, but then again we might just become the rock of faith that Jesus knew Peter could be with a little (or a lot of) work.

Today millions of us will sit for hours in front of our TVs and cheer for a couple of football teams that we may or may not care about. We will plan elaborate feasts and we will drink a lot. At the end their will be a champion team and we will exchange our sentiments in favor of or against said champion, we will pay out our bets, we will regret all the fried foods that we just consumed, and we will nurse our hangovers too, but I hope that we will also remember that each one of us is called to be a champion for Christ and if we are to do that we must partake from the Super Bowl that He offers us every single Sunday, the one elevated by human hands, but kissed by Jesus himself. Don’t forget to whom you belong and remember do not be afraid for He has great plans for you, Beloved. Have a blessed day.

Reading 1 IS 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!”

Responsorial Psalm PS 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.

Reading 2 1 COR 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.

Or 1 COR 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.

Alleluia MT 4:19

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

Gospel LK 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.