Reflection for Sunday – February 9, 2025

Meghan KellogSunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15: 3-8, 11; Luke 5: 1-11 
Preacher: Meghan Kellogg

As I prayed over the readings, a song started to emerge in my head and before I knew it, I was singing out loud “The Call.” If you are unfamiliar, it’s a piece by Ralph Vaughan Williams composed using George Herbert’s poem, “The Call,” as the text. Each stanza begins with various titles of Christ, many of which we know from our Scriptures:

“Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life…”

‘Come, My Light, my Feast, my Strength…”

“Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart…”

Even as we call out to God, we are reminded that our Lord has created us and initiated this relationship. We have been called to follow Jesus and we come to know Him more intimately as we pray to Him using these beautiful Divine names. The song, “The Call,” is just as much about God calling us as it is about us calling out to God in prayer and responding to God’s invitation.

In each of our readings, we have a window into Isaiah’s, Paul’s and Simon’s responses to God’s call.  In our first reading, Isaiah encounters God, very much aware of his own failings, yet by God’s grace his lips are touched by a seraphim and his sins are removed. Isaiah is then freely open to answer God with a robust “Here I am.”

In our second reading, Paul reminds the Corinthians that Christ has died for our sins and that he was buried and rose again appearing to many along the way, including Paul.  Paul does not deny his unworthiness but makes it very evident that Christ wholeheartedly desired to ask Paul, a man who persecuted the Church, to come forth and follow Him. 

Anyone who is part of an Italian family knows the word abbondanza, particularly when it comes to food.  Even after one too many courses, someone’s nonna is enticing them to keep on eating, for the feast always includes an abundance of food.  Paul, in calling himself “the least among the apostles” certainly recognizes the abbondanza of grace Christ has for him. Paul later imparts this wisdom to the people of Corinth: “Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you…” (2 Cor 9: 8). May we be comforted in knowing that regardless of whether we judge ourselves worthy, Christ does not require this to be a qualification for discipleship.

In our Gospel, Simon, whom we later come to know as Peter, is seemingly facing a lack of abundance of food after fishing all night. I can only imagine that he felt a bit patronized when he, a master fisherman, was told by Jesus to “put out in deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”  However, Simon referred to Jesus as Master and would have been aware of Jesus’ miraculous abilities after observing the healing of his mother-in-law.  Still, my guess is Simon was not expecting the abbondanza that was about to occur.  Desperate, he trusts Jesus and experiences the surprise of a lifetime.

Wow! What a miracle! With nets tearing and boats sinking, Simon Peter falls to his knees aware of his own fragility and sinfulness. It’s significant at this moment, that the Gospel writer, Luke, refers to him as Simon Peter, instead of Simon. We are on the brink of a transformation, an invitation, and Simon Peter is called forth anew to be a disciple of Christ. And it occurred right in the middle of the messiness of life when Simon was just trying to do his job. We know he will stumble along the way, and will surely need an abundance of grace, just as we do. 

This all makes me think of a young man who was staying at our house this week, as he completed his Doctoral exams at school. This man remarked to us: “it was something transcendent Who kept opening doors for me to get me to this place.” Ah, yes, it was, I thought, but he had to also respond to the call and put in the work. Fifteen years after experiencing periods of living in a car with his father as a teenager, after losing his father while he was in college, and losing his sister to drugs, this young man is going to have his Doctoral degree. Isn’t this the grace of God at work and the persistence of someone to keep on fishing amidst the struggles of life?

Meghan Kellog
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