February 7: Reflections on The Scripture Readings For Sunday Mass

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To help you prepare for this coming Sunday, here are the readings and reflections for this coming Sunday’s Scripture readings. This Sunday in the Gospel Reading, we hear the story of the miraculous draught of fish.

Here are the Scripture readings from the U.S. Catholic bishops website.

My own weekly study (along with Don Schwager’s meditation) can be found here under "Current Study.

"Reflections on the Sunday Scriptures to share with the younger ones in your family by Emily and Jeff Cavins can be found at Family Night .

Here also are links to audio reflections on the Gospel reading by Dr. Scott Hahn and Fr. Robert Barron.

The Navarre Bible Commentary for each reading can be viewed here.

Further study resources for the Readings can be found here and here.

Here are trio of recorded weekly Bible studies, each about an hour long:

– St. Martha Catholic Church Adult Faith Formation

– Franciscan Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother (usually posted by Thursday night)

– Sunday Gospel Scripture Study

Discussion and charitable comments are always welcome. Have a blessed and holy Lord’s day!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/V&A_-Raphael,The_Miraculous_Draught_of_Fishes(1515).jpg/240px-V&A-_Raphael,The_Miraculous_Draught_of_Fishes(1515).jpg

 

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This Sunday’s First Reading is taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah (Yesa yahu = Yahweh is salvation) is one of the most outstanding and most important of the prophets. He was born around the year 700 B.C. and lived in Jerusalem. There is a good basis for thinking that he belonged to a distinguished priestly and perhaps noble family, judging from his education and culture and from his contacts with the court and nobility of the kingdom of Judah. He was married, with two children…

…[Isaiah] was charged with proclaiming the downfall of Israel and of Judah in punishment for the unfaithfulness of the people and their failure to repent. In the second part of his book he goes on to announce the consecration of Israel which he describes in a prophetic vision of enormous importance.

The prophecies contained in the first part of the book refer to the period in which Isaiah himself lived. In the year 738 the political horizon of the Near East was overshadowed by the growing threat of the military strength of Assyria, which was ruled at the time by Tiglath- Pileser III (724727). The northern kingdom (Israel) had fallen to the Assyrians in 721, and Judah, in the south, had become a vassal of Assyria and was about to succumb politically and spiritually in the reign of Ahaz.

(excerpted from Isaiah by Antonio Fuentes, *This Rock, *October, 1992)

In the year 740, on the death of King Uzziah, Isaiah received his calling as a prophet in a vision in the Temple of Jerusalem as he himself describes in our First Reading:

Reading I
Isaiah 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!”

 

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Here is an alternate translation of the Reading from the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (RSV-CE):

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. And one called to another and said:“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

And I said:“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said:“Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

 

[COPLAND_3]

litteralchristianlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Sunday%2C+Febuary+7%2C+2010

 

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Audio readings and commentary by COPLAND
litteralchristianlibrary.wetpaint.com/page/Sunday%2C+Febuary+7%2C+2010

Thanks, John, for the helpful contribution!

 

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While this week our First Reading looks at the call of the prophet Isaiah, which occured around 742 BC (around the time of the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel), last Sunday, we looked at the call of the prophet Jeremiah which came about 116 years later, as the Southern kingdom of Judah was about to fall to the Babylonians. Here is the account of Jeremiah’s calling:

The Lord calls Jeremiah
-----------------------------------
[4] Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,[5] “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” [6] Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak.[8] Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.

[9] Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. [10] See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build up and to plant.”

[17] But you, gird up your loins; arise, and say to them everything that I command you.Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.[18] And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land.[19] They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you."

Just on a surface level, what strikes you immediately about the two prophets and their individual calls? How are they different? How are they similar?

 

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As we we did for the Gospel Reading the previous two weeks, let’s use the commentary from this week’s Catholic Matters study aid as a base, with commentary from the Navarre in blue, and my own comments (if any) in green:

FIRST READING: Isaiah 6: 1-8. *In the year the King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings. And one called to another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sins forgiven.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” *

EXPLANATION: We have here a brief but graphic description of Isaiah’s encounter with the Holy God of Israel, an encounter which explains his whole life and teaching. He saw God in a vision seated on a lofty throne in the Temple of Jerusalem. He heard God, as it were, looking for one who would speak in his name to his chosen but unfaithful people, and there and then he volunteered, he accepted the vocation of Prophet or mouthpiece of God. For about forty years (742-700) he tried to wean the people of Judah from their sinful ways. The ever-recurring themes of his preaching were the infinite holiness of God as contrasted with the utter selfish sinfulness of men, and the almost incredible mercy of God who would yet restore the kingdom of David, notwithstanding the ingratitude and the unworthiness of the vast majority of his Chosen People.

[1] In the year that King Uzziah died: As noted above, King Uzziah died in the year 742 BC. Uzziah was one of the more successful kings of Judah, doing what was right in the Lord’s eyes and strengthening the kingdom against her enemies. But even though he started out well, toward the end of his life, he presumed to act as both king and priest, and tried to engage in priestly activities he was not permitted to do. For this he was turned into a leper, and thus spent the last years of his kingship in isolation. In effect, for those years, Judah had no king and Isaiah’s vision is kind of a juxtaposition in that the true king of Israel, God himself, makes an appearance in the temple. You can read about Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26.

I saw the Lord…in the temple: He saw Yahweh the God of Israel and of the whole universe. In a vision God appeared in some visible form: God, being pure spirit, is invisible to human eyes. He was seated on a “lofty throne” to signify his dignity.

In Isaiah’s vision, God’s glory is seen as filling the earthly temple in Jerusalem, which was still standing at the time. The temple was modeled after the tabernacle which Moses built at the direction of God, who showed him the pattern of it when he was on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 25:40; Hebrews 8:5). In filling the temple, it’s implied that God’s glory fills the heavenly temple, that is, the entire universe.

[2a] above . . . seraphim: These six-winged beings with partly human shape represented God’s courtiers. Greater than any earthly monarch, he had to be surrounded by royal attendants. The Golden Cherubs, with their extended wings placed on the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 25: 18), were somewhat similar to these seraphim and may have put the image in the mind of Isaiah.

The second part of verse 2, which describes the seraphim, is ommited from this Sundays reading. Verse 2 reads:
*Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. *
The *seraphim *(literally, “the burning ones”) were one of nine ranks of angels, the ones closest to the presence of God and thus “afire” with God’s holiness and love. Two of their wings covered their faces out of humility. two cover “their feet” (a euphemism for their private parts), and with two wings they stay aloft.

[3] **Holy, holy, holy: **These angelic spirits chanted the holiness of God. The triple repetition represents the highest in holiness. The preface of our Mass ends with these words of the seraphim.

The Hebrew language had no intensifiers (like “holier” or “holiest”) to modify their words. Thus, thrice holy (“holy, holy, holy”) was as holy as something could possibly be.

(continued below…)

 

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(Continued from previous post)

Note: for another possible appearance of the seraphim, mentioned above, see Revelation 4:6-8.

[4] **filled with smoke: **The cloud of smoke signified God’s presence, as on Mount Sinai (see Ex. 40: 34).
As it did also when the construction of the tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 40:34-38) and the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 8:10) when God’s glory was said to “overshadow” or “settle upon.” The Greek phrase (from the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint) used here is the same used when Luke describes the Spirit overshadowing Mary at the Annunciation (Luke 1:35).

[5] **Woe is me . . . unclean lips: **That no man could see God and live was the common belief among the Israelites. But Isaiah realizes he is not only man but worse still a sinful man, living amongst a sinful people. How could the All-Holy have any contact with such people—they all deserved death.

As Jeremiah protested his unworthiness last week, Isaiah does so as well—for a different reason. What is that reason?

**Your guilt is taken away: **One of the angelic spirits placed a live coal taken from the fire of the altar of sacrifice, on his lips. This was to symbolize a thorough cleansing, and the angel said that the fire did what it symbolized, it purified.

Compare this action by the seraphim to the action of God in response to Jeremiah’s protest. Why the difference and what is the significance?

Here I am, send me: Isaiah is not only purified from his sins but he is filled with the love of God and zeal for his cause, so he immediately volunteers to be God’s spokesman. He accepts the difficult task of Prophet to his own stubborn people.

His protest answered by God, Isaiah has no further excuse not to serve God. His response is immediate and whole-hearted, showing the disposition of his heart.

6:1-13. As an introduction to what is called the “Book of Immanuel” (7:1-12:6) we get this account of how the Lord called Isaiah to he a prophet, sending him to his people at the time of the Syrian-Ephraimite coalition to explain to them what is going on and how they should act.

The account begins with a theophany (vv. 1-4), which is one of the key points in this book’s message. God manifests himself seated in the manner of eastern kings, surrounded by his angelic court (the “seraphim”), who extol the holiness of the Lord: he clearly is Lord of all. In this vision, God is depicted as the thrice holy (v. 3), the highest form of superlative available in Hebrew. Being holy implies standing apart – standing above everything else. God stands far above all other beings and he is their creator. In Hebrew "holy includes the idea of “sacred”. It means that God has none of the limitations and imperfections that created beings have.

The holiness and majesty of God fill Isaiah with a sense of his own uncleanness and that of his people (v. 5). Typically, visions of God in biblical history induce feelings of fear in the seer; we even see this in the angel’s announcement to Mary (cf. Lk 1:30): “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.”

“Faced with God’s fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes off his sandals and veils his face (cf. Ex 3:5-6) in the presence of God’s holiness. Before the glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: ‘Woe is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips’ (Is 6:5). Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord’ (Lk 5:8). But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: ‘I will not execute my fierce anger . . . for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst (Hos 11:9)’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 208).

Isaiah is cleansed and consoled as soon as he humbly acknowledges his unworthiness and insignificance before God (vv. 6-7). His instinctive sense of fear is immediately replaced by a generous and trusting response on the prophet’s part: he is ready to do what God wants (v. 8). “In their ‘one to one’ encounters with God the prophets draw light and strength for their mission. Their prayer is not flight from this unfaithful world, but rather attentiveness to the Word of God. At times their prayer is an argument or a complaint, but it is always an intercession that awaits and prepares for the intervention of the Saviour God, the Lord of history (cf. Amos 7:2, 5; Is 6:5, 8, 11; Jer 1:6; 15:15-18; 20:7-18)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2584).

 

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For a really great talk on Isaiah, chapter 6, I highly recommend you listen to Fr. Mitch Pacwa’s series on Isaiah, found here.

Scroll down the page a bit, and it is **number 11 **on the list.

 

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The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) references Isaiah 6:1-8 in the following sections:

Verse Section

6–12___712*
6:1_____1137
6:2-3___1138*
6:3____2809*
6:5____208, 2584*
6:6____332*
6:8____2584*

(asterisks next to the section number indicated Scripture verse is referred to rather than directly cited)

You can look these citations up here.

 

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Finally, here are some questions for personal reflection on this reading:

1. Imagine you are Isaiah. What do you tell a friend about what you saw, heard, felt and smelled in verses 1-4?
2. Compare Isaiah’s response in verse 8 with verse 5. What is significant about that?
3. God’s holiness and universal reign awed Isaiah. Which of God’s attributes most impresses you? Why?
4. John 12:40-41 relates this vision to Jesus. How is Jesus’ glory like the suffering and healing Isaiah saw?
5. Why has God sent you into your world?

(Questions adapted from The Catholic Serendipity Bible for Personal and Small Group Study, New American Bible; Zondervan, 1999)

 

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This Sunday’s Second Reading (continuing from the last several Sundays) is again from St. Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians. To refresh our memories on the context of this book and our present passage (and for the benefit of those new to this study), here is a bit of brief background that was provided previously:

Corinth was a Roman colony, materially prosperous but morally corrupt, when St. Paul came to preach the gospel there in the year 50 A.D. He made some converts among the Jews and many among the Gentiles during his two years stay there. He left for Ephesus in 52 and from there he wrote this letter to his converts correcting some abuses of which he had heard and adding further explanations to the message he had already preached to them.

Judging from the two letters to the Corinthians we have from St. Paul, the Church at Corinth had it’s share of problems including power struggles, cliqueishness, and even incest. Paul had heard of these problems (probably from someone reporting from the Corinthian Church) and was writing in an attempt to bring some order and orthodoxy to the situation.

In this week’s reading, we now shift from a discussion of the various gifts that God has given to his Church, to the importance of holding fast “to the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)

So here is the Second Reading from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 15, verses 1 through 11 (you may hear a slightly shorter version in your parish this weekend):

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.

 

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As we we did for the Gospel Reading, let’s use the commentary from this week’s Catholic Matters study aid as a base, with commentary from the Navarre in blue, and my own comments (if any) in green:

**EXPLANATION: **St. Paul is here recalling to the minds of his Corinthian converts the main points of the Christian faith which he had already preached to them. Christ had died for our sins. He had risen from the dead and appeared to many witnesses, of whom Paul himself was one—the most unworthy of them all. Christ had made him an Apostle. In this vocation he had done great work, but it was not he who did it, but the grace of God that was in him. They must hold fast then to this faith which alone will bring them salvation.

**1-58. **Some of the Corinthian Christians were objecting to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, because this was a belief with which Greeks were unfamiliar, even those Greeks who held that the soul was immortal. Given the great importance of this doctrine, St Paul replies at length, pointing first to the historical fact of Christ’s resurrection (vv. 1-11 ) and how it necessarily connects up with the resurrection of the dead in general (vv. 12-34). He then goes on to discuss what form this resurrection will take (vv. 35-58). This epistle, which began with an exposition on Jesus Christ crucified, the power and wisdom of God (cf. 1:18-2:5), ends with a development of doctrine on the resurrection of Christ and the consequent resurrection of the members of his mystical body.

To understand what St Paul is saying it is useful to bear in mind that here he is referring only to the glorious resurrection of the just. Elsewhere in Sacred Scripture it is clearly stated that all men will rise from the dead (cf., e.g., Jn 5:28-29; Acts 24:15).

1-11. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the essential doctrines of the Catholic faith, explicitly stated in the first creeds or symbols of the faith. It is in fact the supreme argument in favor of the divinity of Jesus and his divine mission: our Lord proclaimed it many times (cf., e.g., Mt 16:21-28; 17:22-27; 20:17-19), and by rising from the dead he provided the sign which he had promised those who did not believe him (cf. Mt 12:38-40).

This point is so important that the primary role of the Apostles is to bear witness to Christ’s resurrection (cf. Acts 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; etc.); the proclamation of the resurrection of the Lord is the very core of apostolic catechesis (cf., e.g., the discourses of St Peter and St Paul reported in the Acts of the Apostles).

[1] I preached to you the Gospel: The Corinthian converts were for the most part pagans before he came to them. The Gospel—the good news—that he had brought them was the news of salvation, eternal life in the world to come.

[2] **If you hold . . . believed in vain: **If they practised what he taught them and lived by the Christian faith they would gain the eternal award. If they did not live the faith, accepting it was to no purpose.

These first two verses, introducing the rest of the passage as they do, epitomize the importance of orthodoxy to one’s salvation–that is isn’t sufficient that we only have an emotional faith in God, or even that we live lives of charity. As vital as these are, what we believe --i.e. TRUTH-- is just as important to hold if we are to be saved.

(continued)

 

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(Continued from previous post)

**3-8. **On the verbs “deliver” and “receive” see the note on 1 Cor 11:23-26 * . St Paul reminds the Corinthians of certain basic points in his preaching–that Jesus Christ died for our sins; “that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (a statement which has passed directly into the Creed) and was seen by many people.

It should be pointed out that the Greek verb translated as “appeared” refers to being seen by the eye. This is relevant to studying the nature of the appearances of the risen Jesus: St Paul is speaking of true, ocular, sight; there seems to be no way this can be identified
with imagination or intellectual vision.

The appearances of the risen Christ are a direct proof of the historical fact of his resurrection. This argument gains special force when one remembers that at the time this letter was written many people who had seen the risen Lord were still alive (v. 6). Some of the appearances referred to by St Paul are also mentioned in the Gospels and in Acts–that to Peter (cf. Lk 24:34), those to the Apostles (cf., e.g., Lk 24:36-49; Jn 20:19-29), that to St Paul himself (cf. Acts 9:1-6); others–that to James and to the five hundred brethren—are mentioned only here.

The importance of this passage is enhanced by the fact that it is the earliest documentary record earlier than the Gospels–of our Lord’s resurrection, which had taken place scarcely twenty years earlier. *

[3] **Christ died for our sins: **Our sins were wiped out, we were made friends of God, and adopted sons, by Christ’s death on the cross.

accordance with . . . Scriptures: That the promised Messiah would suffer and die for our sins was foretold in the prophecies concerning the Suffering Servant (see Is. 53: 4-12). So was his resurrection also (see Is. 53: 10-12; Ps. 17; Hos. 6: 1-3; John 2: 1-2).

[4] appeared to Cephas: This seems a schematic arrangement of Christ’s appearances after the Resurrection; there is no need therefore to try to reconcile it with those recorded in the Gospels. St. Paul places Peter at the head of the list because of his office.

It is possible that no mention is made of the holy women at the tomb because a woman’s testimony was not legally admissible as evidence in a court.

4. “Was buried”: in recounting the death of Christ, all four evangelists expressly mention that his body was buried (cf. Mt 27:57-61 and par.). St Paul also confirms the fact in this letter, written very soon after the time, thereby confirming a tradition which had come down from the beginning (v. 3). The fact that Christ’s body was buried eliminates any doubt about his death, and underlines the miracle of the Resurrection: Jesus Christ rose by his own power, rejoining his soul with his body, and leaving the tomb with the same human body (not merely the appearance of a body) as died and was buried, although now that body was glorified and had certain special properties (cf. note on 15:42-44). The Resurrection, therefore, is an objective, physical event, witnessed to by the empty tomb (cf. Mt 28:1ff and par) and by Christ’s appearances.

“He was raised on the third day”:Jesus died and was buried on the evening of Good Friday; his body lay in the tomb the entire sabbath, and rose on the Sunday. It is correct to say that he rose on the third day after his death, even though it was not a full seventy-two hours later.

“According to the scriptures”: St Paul may be referring to certain passages of the Old Testament which–“after” the event–were seen to foreshadow the Resurrection–for example, the episode of Jonah (chaps.1-2), which Jesus in fact applied to himself (cf. Mt 12:39-40; cf. also Hos 6:1-2 and Ps 16:9-10).

(continued on the next post)

 

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(Continued from previous post)

Next Sunday’s reading—indeed the rest of 1 Corinthians chapter 15—will further emphasize the critical importance of the fact of Christ’s actual resurrection from the dead. As St. Paul points out, if there is no resurrection, it is foolish to be a Christian and we are all wasting our time.

[6] most of whom are still alive: If the Corinthians sought confirmation of the fact of the Resurrection, eye-witnesses were still alive when he wrote this letter (57 A.D.), including most of the Apostles.

[7] Then he appeared to James…: This would be James, the Lord’s “brother” (i.e. kinsman), not one of the twelve, but later the bishop of Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 15:13). This is the only mention in the Bible that Jesus appeared to him personally.

[8] **last of all . . . to me: **Chronologically he was the last—he saw Christ after the Ascension—but in Paul’s estimation of himself he was last in every sense. Paul is referring here to the vision of Christ that be had on the road to Damascus (Acts 9: 1-9) while he was still a zealous persecutor of the infant Church.

[10] grace of God: Nothing less than the free gift of God’s love and grace could explain his conversion and his appointment to the office of an Apostle.

9-10. St Paul’s humility, which leads him to think that his past faults render him unworthy of the grace of the apostolate, is precisely what gives God’s grace scope to work in him. “Admit outright that you are a servant whose duty it is to perform very many services. Do not pride yourself on being called a son of God: let us recognize grace, yet be mindful of our nature; do not be proud of having rendered good service, of having done what you were supposed to do. The sun fulfills its function; the moon obeys, the angels carry out their charge. The Lord’s chosen instrument for the Gentiles says, ‘I am unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God’ (1 Cor 15:9) …]. Neither should we seek to be praised on our own account” (St Ambrose, “Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam”, VIII, 32).

However, the grace of God is not enough on its own. As in St Paul’s case, man’s cooperation is needed, because God has chosen to rely on our free response to grace: “God, who created you without you, will not save you without you” (St Augustine, “Sermon” 169, 13). And, commenting on St Paul’s words–“Not I, but the grace of God which is with me”-- Augustine points out, “that is, not just me, but God with me; and therefore not the grace of God alone, nor myself alone, but the grace of God and myself” (“De Gratia Et Libero Arbitrio”, V, l2).

**I worked harder: **He cooperated with that great grace of God and has done more than his share for the spread of the Gospel, yet he attributes all his success to God’s grace.

[11] **whether . . . I or they: **It is the same identical Christian faith that he and the other Apostles have taught—the same faith that the Corinthians have accepted.

 

[slyphoto]

I am new to Catholic Answers Forums. Just joined this week.
Thanks for providing reflections for the Sunday Mass readings!

slyphoto:thumbsup:

 

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I am new to Catholic Answers Forums. Just joined this week.
Thanks for providing reflections for the Sunday Mass readings!

You are very welcome! :tiphat:

 

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Finally, for the Second Reading, here are some “Questions for Application” taken from The Ignatius Study Bible; The First and Second Letters of St. Paul to the Corinthians (Ignatius Press, 2004), and from The Catholic Serendipity Bible for Personal and Small Group Study, New American Bible; Zondervan, 1999) :

1. What does “Christ died for our sins” (verse 3) mean to you? How does the Gospel affect your life on a daily basis?
2. What evidence can you offer that Christ is alive in your life?
3. Who are you, by the grace of God (verse 10)? When it comes to your life with God, how do you feel about yourself? How has the grace of God in your regard not been in vain?

 

[Fidelis]

In last Sunday’s Gospel, we saw Jesus being rejected by the people of Nazareth after preaching in the synagogue. Since then (in the remainder of Luke, chapter 4) he has returned to his ministry base of Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee, taught there, cast out demons, healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, did more healings and exorcisms and then more “preaching in the synagogues of Judea.” (Luke 4:44)

We now come to Luke, chapter 5, and this Sunday’s Gospel Reading, verses 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.

 

[Fidelis]

Interestingly, this particular story of the miraculous catch of fish does not appear in any of the other Gospels, although the call of the disciples at the end appears in the other two synoptic gospels (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20).

A similar story of a large catch of fish appears at the end of John’s Gospel, but that is after Jesus’ resurrection (John 21:1-19)