Sunday February 6, 2022

 

 

FIFTH SUNDAY of ORDINARY TIME

We Are Called and Sent

 

The Rich Word of God

 

Greeting (See Second Reading)

By God’s grace we are what we are.
May his grace not remain fruitless in us.
What matters is that we spread the Good News.
May the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.

 

Introduction by the Celebrant

1. We Are Called and Sent

If our faith is truly an integral part of our lives, we should be so much aware of its riches that we cannot keep it to ourselves. What we see in it, what we live in it, we want to share with others. If it makes us feel happy and secure in God, we realize it is given not only for ourselves. Let us make others happy and rich in faith: that is the vocation of every Christian. Let us ask the Lord here in the Eucharist that we may bring him to others, at least by the way we live.

 

2. The Rich Word of God

It is fortunate that the new liturgy has opened the Bible for us. Not only do we hear it now in our own language but also the number and selection of texts read to us has improved immensely. No wonder many people now have a Bible and regularly read from it. Why do we read the Bible? Is it only to seek consolation in it or is it that we want to know God better, especially through encountering Jesus and his message? When we know God better, do we bring others closer to God? Jesus asks of us today to spread his word and message. Let us listen to him as he speaks to us.

 

Penitential Act

Before the all-holy God we are only sinners.
We ask him to cleanse our lips and our hearts
and to send us to make him known as our healing God.
                        (pause)
Lord Jesus, you died for our sins
according to the Scriptures:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, on the third day
you rose to life to bring us your life:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, by your grace you call us
to be apostles of your Good News:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

In your mercy, Lord, forgive us
and let your grace not be fruitless in us.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

 

Opening Prayer

Let us pray
that God may make us capable
of making his gospel credible
                        (pause)
Holy God of our happiness,
you entrust your Good News of life
to weak and fallible people.
Keep us from discouragement
and give us the strength to speak your message
with the language of our life.
Let Jesus your Son work with us and in us,
that each of us may have the courage to say:
Here I am, Lord,
send me as your messenger
to share your glad tidings of happiness
with all willing to listen.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

First Reading (Is 6:1-8): Here I Am, Send Me

Isaiah believed in God’s presence in the Temple but he did not expect to see a vision of the holy God. Moved by this experience, he accepted to become God’s unworthy prophet.

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

(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.

 

Second Reading: I Am an Apostle by the Grace of God

Paul thought that by persecuting Christians he was defending God against a dangerous sect. Jesus took him by surprise and made him an apostle.

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

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

 

Gospel: I Will Make You Fishers of People

Peter and his companions were expert fishers. Jesus calls them to be expert fishers of people. They left everything to follow him.

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.

 

Intercessions

As the people chosen by God, let us bring before our Father in heaven the needs and prayers of all people, and let us say: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.

–          For the pope and all bishops, called by God to be “fishers of people,” that they may face with courage and hope the stormy waves of our time of renewal and continue without fear to preach the gospel of Christ, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.

–          For missionaries, and all who spread the gospel, that by their own evangelical living and their openness to all they may bear witness to the universality and beauty of the message of Christ, we pray: R/ Listen to your people Lord.

–          For those called by the Lord to his special service as priests or religious, that their own experience of Christ may be the source of their strength to remain faithful to God’s call, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.

–          For all Christians, that they may have the courage to risk their comfort and personal peace to help prisoners and refugees, old parents, the sick and strangers, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.

–          For our Christian communities, that the celebration of the Eucharist may commit us more and more to one another and give us the strength to work together to make our communities alive in Christ, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.

Lord our God, we are but weak people. Make us fit to carry out any task you wish us to do, by the strength of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Prayer over the Gifts

God our Father,
in these signs of bread and wine
we celebrate the central event
that sums up our faith
and gives meaning to what we are and do:
the death and resurrection of your Son.
Purify our lips and hearts
with his body and blood
and send us to proclaim with our lives
that Jesus is our living Lord
and that you are our Father
now and for ever. R/ Amen.

 

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

We praise God for the apostles, his privileged witnesses who became fishers of people, and with them we are willing to spread the Good News. In the “Holy, holy” we echo the words of the angels, whom Isaiah heard singing God’s praise.

 

Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

In the words of Jesus who saved us
let us pray to the Father who calls and loves us
through the Spirit who guides us: R/ Our Father…

 

Deliver Us

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and meet us in the humility
of our sinful human condition.
Take away from us the fear
that we are too inadequate
to be messengers and instruments
of your forgiveness and love,
since it is you who call us.
Send us out to prepare in joyful hope
the coming in glory among his people
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom…

 

Invitation to Communion

This is the Lamb of God
who saved us from sin
by his death and resurrection.
We are not worthy to receive him,
but he purifies us and sends us
to proclaim his love. R/ Lord, I am not worthy…

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
in your love you have called each of us
to a task of life and a place in your plan
which no one else can fulfill for us;
you have chosen your Church
to be the irreplaceable sign and witness
of the death and resurrection of your Son.
Make each and all of us
capable of our mission
and send us out into the deep
by the strength of the body and blood
of our unique Savior,
Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Blessing

The Lord entrusts to you
his word and his body.
Go now, speak his word
and be his body to the world.
May the Lord bless you,
that you may be a blessing to all,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

 

Go in the peace of the Lord.

R/ Thanks be to God.

 

Commentary 

Three-Pronged Revelation

Read:

The great vision of God’s holiness makes Isaiah intensely conscious of his own sinfulness. Paul confesses that whatever he is, is by the Grace of God working in him. The miraculous catch of fish brings Simeon Peter to his knees and a confession.

Reflect:

Revelation is always a twin-revelation: who God is and who we are. Before the vision of the immense grandeur and holiness of God, Isaiah can only become self-conscious of his own sinfulness. Before the miraculous catch of fish that Jesus worked, Peter can only murmur: “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” And Paul knows very well that he was so despicable that he neither merited a visitation from God nor the title apostle. This self-awareness is invariably a consciousness of the vast gulf existing between God’s goodness and holiness, and our creatureliness and sinfulness. Thankfully, within this gulf plays God’s Grace that transforms us into whom God desires us to be—as it happened with Isaiah, Paul, and Peter. So, perhaps I should correct myself: Revelation is always three-pronged: Who God is, who we are, and who we can be, by God’s Grace. 

Pray:

“Lord, give me true self-knowledge so that I know and love you more.”

Act:

Receive the sacrament of reconciliation (confession) this week.

 

Reflection taken from Bible Diary 2022;

written by Fr.Paulson Velyannoor, CMF