5th Sunday of OT—Fr. Leo Schneider
In the spiritual life, it is God who makes us holy. And God’s desire to do so, is intense and unwavering. We see this in all three of our scripture passages today. Isaiah in our first reading, sees himself as a man of unclean lips unable to serve the Lord. Knowing the sincerity of his prayer, God sends the seraphim to touch his lips with an ember from God’s altar and declares to Isaiah, “See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin is purged.” God made the humble Isaiah his prophet through the purifying touch of his love.
St. Paul in our second reading from first Corinthians proclaims his dependance on the grace and love of God. He admits he had no right to become an apostle because he persecuted the church. Yet, he acknowledges that he has become what he is by the grace of God. Paul, a sinner, is made a great Saint by the love and mercy of God. It is God who made him a holy Apostle of the faith we profess here today.
Luke’s gospel gives us yet another example of God bringing us to sanctity. Peter, who had just met and listened to Jesus preach on his boat, was asked to pullout into the water to fish. Though he was exhausted and thought it a bad idea, he did. At the large catch he recognized the extraordinary in Jesus, fell at his feet and begged him to leave him because he was a sinful man. But Jesus, makes this humble man the head of his Church. By the grace of God, we are sanctified.
As we gather here in God’s presence today, Jesus is inviting each of us to let him make us holy. We can be filled with the Spirit if we desire to be with open humble hearts. To have this desire we must realize that though we may see ourselves as unworthy sinners, in God’s eyes we are his beloved, whom he calls to himself. God’s forgiving love is a gift! God gives himself to us. That is what we are doing in the Eucharist. Sinners though we are, we come forward to receive the reconciling love of Christ who sanctifies us because we are willing to come forward in faith and humility to receive him. Our confession of Amen, makes us Holy.
At Communion our Amen is an Amen to God, his mercy, and his making us holy! Humbly he sanctifies us so our gifts can express our gratitude to God and our holiness further the life of the Kingdom. Let us say our Amen today in confident faith and rejoice that the Lord has called us to be fishers of men and women.