This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
Sunday of Ordinary YearCareer ….fisherman!....Call……fisher of Men!!!!!Is 6: 1-2a, 3-8; I Cor 15: 1-11; Luke 5:1-11Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus, every Eucharist is a call to be disciples, servants and witnesses to the Lord. The word of God, the communion, celebrative singing and peace sharing rekindle our call which we received in Baptism. We will no sing gospel acclamation, alleluia after this in the season Lent from this Wednesday, so we shall sing and rejoice by accepting our call and in living out challenges involved in that.Why the Church is particular about priesthood? Will the Church survive and continue with enough priests? What will happen if vocation declines like happen in Europe? How will the church overcome from all the scandals? This was the questions of a non-denomination person to me recently. My answer was Church is like rock, build on rock, no one can bring it down, the Lord who began, who continuous till now will look after it. Why did Jesus choose Fisher men as His disciples? How did He know they will spread the good news and build the Church? Why didn’t He choose the scribes, lawyers and rich officials of that time? We may not have proper answer for our doubts because we don’t know the mind of Jesus; however we believe that He must have had strong reasons for His choice. Scribes, lawyers and rich officials considered and did their responsibilities as career. On the other hand fisher men had deep commitment and fulfillment in their fishing career. They went beyond their day today work. Career is working in a position to look after and feed myself and my family, so, one makes all his efforts to stay on that particular job or position. Call is committing to the task entrusted and believing that, it comes from God and fulfilling this call in a spirit of service. Call is a big YES. The Sea of Galilee is known (Gennesaret in Greek and Tiberias in Latin) for blessing and abundance. There were ten prosperous towns spread around the lake. People found their life bright with the abundance of water and fishes. The Sea of Galilee was the site of many manifestations of Jesus’ divine power. Fishermen mostly go in the night for fishing; they keep awake and work hard. They know the depth of the sea and they risk their life when met with bad weather. They were simple people. When Peter says, we tried the whole night and we know this sea very well, this is our home as we spend more hours here. Jesus told Peter; lower your nets again before the dawn and put into deep. Here Jesus affirms them that their strength is commitment and need to hold on to it. Commitment is a strong yes to the call, to the situation and to people. Jesus assures that when there is strong yes there will be abundance of blessing like abundance of fish catch. I worked in a coastal parish in an Island. Island consists of seven catholic parishes. I was in one among the seven. The parish I lived and served has 250 families. Men used to go for fishing either late in the evening and return early morning or go in the sea 2am early morning and returned later. They are very faithful, committed and simple people. They are happy with what they have, their world may be small within the island but it is a happy world. I admired and enjoyed their faith and worship as they call for blessing of boat and sea. I experienced their commitment and attitude of service in all that they do. In the first reading, the call of Isaiah was renewed and reaffirmed by Yahweh. It was in 8th Century B.C.E, the chosen people were dived into northern kingdom as Israel, and southern kingdom as Judah. The kings of both the kingdom were trying to strengthen their power following and imposing the people to follow pagan gods, kings appointed priests to do the worship and sacrifice for pagan gods. Yahweh who called the people of Israel, who chose them, who made covenant with them after liberating them was forgotten by these own people. In this situation, prophets were called and chosen by God of Yahweh to challenge Kings and bring people back from pagan worship. In this process, Prophets were humiliated, threatened and attacked. Here Isaiah doubts and hesitates to carry on his call, So God of Yahweh reminds His call to commit and to serve with a strong Yes. One day, author and educator Howard Hendricks was on a plane that was delayed from takeoff. As passengers became irritated and demanding, Howard noticed how gracious one of the flight attendants continued to be with each passenger. When they were finally in the air he continued to be amazed at her poise and control. When she came by his seat, Howard asked if he could write a letter of commendation to the airline on her behalf. “I don’t work for the airline,” she replied, “I work for Jesus Christ. My husband and I prayed this morning that I would be a good representative of Jesus Christ on this flight.” No matter what we do, what responsibility we are in, we need to see this as a call from Jesus. Each one of us have a unique and special call and mission in this world, it may be very simple and ordinary but it involves lot of efforts, to serve with smile, to forgive with acceptance, to encourage with care and to comfort with touch. We will say strong YES to serve, to be patient, to accommodate and to sustain the fulfillment in all moments -Amen. 
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