5th Sunday of the Year C

First Reading: Isaiah 6: 1-8.  Isaiah has a vision of God and realizes that he is called to speak for him. Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11.  Paul preaches the Resurrection of Christ as the basis of our faith.
Gospel: Luke 5: 1-11.  Peter recognizes a more than human power in Jesus and responds by following him.

Points for Reflection-by Fr Carlo Tei

1. The Scripture Readings of the 5th Sunday of the Year (C) give an account of what happened to three of the most illustrious figures in the history of salvation: the Prophet Isaiah and the Apostles Paul and Peter. In a certain moment of their lives, all three experienced:

• the living presence of the Lord;

• their own unworthiness;

• and their dependence on him.

At the end of their experience:

• they entrusted themselves to the Lord;

• allowed him to take charge of their lives;

• and were enlisted to carry out the work entrusted to them by God.

2. What happened to these three great servants of the Lord is something that also touches upon our lives.

• First of all, God speaks to us, too, although to each one of us in a different way. We should always be open and attentive to the Spirit, who reaches us through the events and the people we come across in our daily lives or through “his own special ways”.

• Secondly, there are times when we feel our unworthiness before God. They are privileged moments when we are given the opportunity to free ourselves of our illusions and are reminded that all that is good and worthwhile comes only from God.

• When we recognize our unworthiness, we also come to know God’s merciful love for each one of us. And every experience of God’s love for us becomes the source of our love for others and the starting point of our missionary witness, of our work of evangelization. The more we recognize that God is love, the more we feel commissioned to tell other people about God and his love; and to share this love with anyone we come across in our daily lives, especially with those who feel lonely and neglected, and with those who are still waiting for some fishers of men to help them free themselves from the power of evil hidden in so many wordly illusions, enchantments and deceitful attractions.