February 7: Reflections on The Scripture Readings For Sunday Mass

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Again using the commentary from this week’s Catholic Matters study aid as a base, well put the commentary from the Navarre Commentary in blue, and my own comments (if any) in green:

[1] **While the people pressed upon Him (Jesus) to hear the word of God: **

1. “Just as they do today! Can’t you see? They want to hear God’s message, even though outwardly they may not show it. Some perhaps have forgotten Christ’s teachings. Others, through no fault of their own, have never known them and they think that religion is something odd. But of this we can be sure, that in every man’s life there comes a time sooner or later when his soul draws the line. He has had enough of the usual explanations. The lies of the false prophets no longer satisfy. Even though they may not admit it at the time, such people are longing to quench their thirst with the teachings of our Lord” (St Josemaria Escriva, “Friends of God”, 260).

The “word of god” is the entire gospel message that Jesus has been preaching up to now in Luke’s Gospel.

He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret: Also called the Sea of Galilee in Matthew and Mark, and the Sea of Tiberias in John. This was because its waters touched all of those regions surrounding it.

[2] **And He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets: **This means they were winding up their fishing night, but (if they had a successful evening) would be preparing to go to the early morning market to try and sell their catch. What do you think their thoughts were at this time after catching no fish? Then after the miraculous catch?

[3] **Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat: **

1. The Fathers saw in Simon’s boat a symbol of the pilgrim Church on earth. “This is the boat which according to St. Matthew was in danger of sinking and according to St. Luke was filled with fish. Here we can see the difficult beginnings of the Church and its later fruitfulness” (St. Ambrose, “Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc.”). Christ gets into the boat in order to teach the crowds–and from the barque of Peter, the Church, He continues to teach the whole world.

Each of us can also see himself as this boat Christ uses for preaching. Externally no change is evident: “What has changed? There is a change inside our soul, now that Christ has come aboard, as He went aboard Peter’s boat. Its horizon has been expanded. It feels a greater ambition to serve and an irrepressible desire to tell all creation about the “magnalia Dei” (Acts 2:11), the marvelous doings of our Lord, if only we let Him work” (St. Josemaria Escriva, “Friends of God”, 265).

To accommodate the large crowds coming to hear him, he gets into a fishing boat (the one belonging to Peter) and teaches from there. This action was seen by the early Church Fathers as a symbol of how Christ teaches through the Church, which is often called the “Barque (or boat) of St. Peter.”

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Continued from previous post:

[4] put out into the deep . . . let your nets: Having preached from Peter’s boat to the crowds sitting on the lake-shore, Christ tells Peter to row out into the deep part of the lake to fish.

1. “When He had finished His catechizing, He told Simon: `Put out into the deep, and lower your nets for a catch.’ Christ is the master of this boat. He it is who prepares the fishing. It is for this that He has come into the world, to do all He can so that His brothers may find the way to glory and to the love of the Father” (“Friends of God”, 260). To carry this task out, our Lord charges all of them to cast their nets, but it is only Peter He tells to put out into the deep.

This whole passage refers in some way to the life of the Church. In the Church the bishop of Rome, Peter’s successor, “is the vicar of Jesus Christ because he represents Him on earth and acts for Him in the government of the Church” (“St. Pius X Catechism”, 195). Christ is also addressing each one of us, urging us to be daring in apostolate: "Duc in altum. Put out into deep water!' Throw aside the pessimism that makes a coward of you. Et laxate retia vestra in capturam. And pay out you nets for a catch.’ Don’t you see that you, like Peter, can say: `In nomine tuo, laxabo rete’: Jesus, if You say so, I will search for souls?" (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 792).

“If you were to fall into the temptation of wondering, Who's telling me to embark on this?', we would have reply, Christ Himself is telling you, is begging you.’ The harvest is plentiful enough, but the laborers are few. You must ask the Lord to whom the harvest belongs to send laborers out for the harvesting' (Matthew 9:37-38). Don't take the easy way out. Don't say, I’m no good at this sort of thing; there are others who can do it; it isn’t my line.’ No, for this sort of thing, there is no one else: if you could get away with that argument, so could everyone else. Christ’s plea is addressed to each and every Christian. No one can consider himself exempt, for whatever reason–age, health or occupation. There are no excuses whatsoever. Either we carry out a fruitful apostolate, or our faith will prove barren” (“Friends of God”, 272).

“Put out into the deep” was a favorite theme of the late Pope John Paul II, especially when speaking to the youth of the Church. See one of his addresses on this theme here.

[5] **we toiled all night . . . nothing: **The night time was the most suitable time for net-fishing. Peter, who lived by his fishing, knew that if the fish did not rise at night there was little chance they would rise in daylight but he showed amazing trust in the power of Christ, for he says:

At your . . . I will let down the nets: He would try the impossible because he trusted in Christ.

1. When Christ gives him these instructions, Peter states the difficulties involved. “A reasonable enough reply. The night hours were the normal time for fishing, and this time the catch had yielded nothing. What was the point of fishing by day? But Peter has faith: `But at Your word I will let down the nets.’ He decides to act on Christ’s suggestion. He undertakes the work relying entirely on the word of our Lord” (“Friends of God”, 261).

One of the things that Christ calls us to do requires that we bring him into our workplaces and to let us lead us in the way we conduct out business. Peter was the professional fisherman; as far as he knew, Jesus area of expertise was carpentry. How do you think Peter felt when being told how to conduct his business? How would you feel? Do you let Jesus take the lead in your career and livelihood?

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Continued from previous post

[6] **nets were breaking: **His confidence was rewarded. The net was filled to breaking point. They called the other boat, and the net held enough fish to fill both boats until they were almost sinking.

[8] **I am a sinful man: **Peter recognized the sanctity of Christ in this miracle—Jesus must be a close friend of God. He also knew his own unworthiness and sinfulness and felt he should not be near such a holy man.

1. Peter does not want Christ to leave him; aware of his sins, he declares his unworthiness to be near Christ. This reminds us of the attitude of the centurion who confesses his unworthiness to receive Jesus into his house (Matthew 8:8). The Church requires her children to repeat these exact words of the centurion before receiving the Blessed Eucharist. She also teaches us to show due external reverence to the Blessed Sacrament when going to Communion: by falling down on his knees Peter also shows that internal adoration of God should be also be expressed externally.

Compare Peter’s response to Isaiah’s in the First Reading. How are they similar? How does your attitude to being in the presence of God—for example before the Blessed Sacrament or receiving Holy Communion?

[10] James and John: The two sons of Zebedee are mentioned, as partners of Peter. The fourth man not mentioned by name is clearly Andrew, Peter’s brother. The two boats, with two brothers in each, evidently worked as a team.

you will be catching men: Christ now tells Peter what his future vocation is to be—not catching fish but catching men for the new kingdom of Christ.

[11] **left everything . . . followed him: **Luke stresses Peter’s call but evidently Christ had indicated to all four that he wished them to join him, for immediately they came ashore they left boats and nets and followed Christ.

1. Perfection is not simply a matter of leaving all things but of doing so in order to follow Christ–which is what the Apostles did: they gave up everything in order to be available to do what God’s calling involved.

We should develop this attitude of availability, for “Jesus isn’t satisfied `going halves’: He wants the lot” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 155).

If we don’t give ourselves generously we will find it very difficult to follow Jesus: “Detach yourself from people and things until you are stripped of them. For, says Pope St. Gregory, the devil has nothing of his own in this world, and naked he comes to battle. If you go clothed to fight him, you will soon be pulled to the ground: for he will have something to catch you by” (“The Way”, 149).

 

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* *Finally, some questions for personal application on the Gospel Reading from my Scripture study found here:

1. How did this miracle affect Peter? Why does it seem to have a more profound effect on him than the healing of his mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39)? What is he beginning to grasp about Jesus? About sin? About belief in himself?
2. What do you think Simon Peter was thinking and feeling in verse 5? 7? 8? When was the first time, if ever, that you responded to Jesus like Peter did in verse 8?
3. Compare and contrast the scene from the Gospel reading with that found in the First Reading (Isaiah 6:1-8). How are the scenes similar? Different?
4. Peter asks Jesus to depart from him, “For I am a sinful man.” In reply, Jesus tells him not to be afraid. How often to feelings of unworthiness make you afraid to approach God? What do you do with that fear?
5. In your “fishing business,” how do you see Jesus: (a) Interesting, but a slightly irrelevant teacher? (b) Potentially a great business partner—if you could hire him to work for you? (c) The one who calls all the shots?

 

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I’d like to add a few reflections on this Sunday’s readings taken from various places to help our own reflections. If you would like to share with others – either short reflections from your favorite Saints or contemporary writers (provided they are orthodox and faithful to the teaching of the Church), or even your own brief thoughts on this Sunday’s readings – please feel free to do so. Also, feel free to share your answers to any or all of the "Questions for personal application found in the previous posts.

The following is taken from “Faith Matters”:

APPLICATION: How the wisdom of God differs from the wisdom of men! If a businessman of today (or even of the year 28 A.D.) were choosing a chairman and assistants for the world-wide enterprise he was about to set up, is it likely that he would choose them from among the unknown, unlettered fishermen of Galilee? Yet Christ, who was about to set up not only a world-wide institute but an everlasting one, chose these simple fishermen and made them his assistants and his successors in the work that he had taken in hand.

And it wasn’t that he was restricted in his choice. There were many highly educated priests and scribes in Jerusalem whom he could have won over, men who could preach and instruct so much more eloquently than Peter or Andrew. There were Roman officers in Palestine who were highly educated, and who would be much more eagerly listened to in the Gentile world. There were Greek philosophers whose very name would add prestige to the Gospel message had they been Apostles. Yet it was to none of these that Christ entrusted the arduous task of spreading the good news of the Gospel, it was to none of these that he gave the keys of his kingdom.

Christ was not influenced in his judgement by external, accidental qualifications. He judged the heart and the will. He knew the true worth of men. Furthermore, the society that he was about to set up was not a worldly business concern but a free transport system to heaven. The truths he was committing to its keeping were not based on earthly wisdom which would require eloquence and prestige to bolster them up. They were the eternal, divine truths which needed no human propaganda, no help from mere men.

Thus, in the selection of his Apostles, Christ has given us an extra proof, if one were needed, of his own divine wisdom and of the divine origin of the Christian religion which we profess. Our religion is not man-made, God is its author.

While thanking God today for our Christian religion, with its clearly drawn map of salvation, let us show our appreciation by doing our own little part, as humble apostles, weak but willing helpers of Christ. This we can do without eloquence, or personal prestige. We do so by living as true Christians in our homes, in our places of work, and in our recreations, by carrying our cross daily and patiently, ever ready to give a hand when the neighbor’s cross seems too heavy for him. This will be Christian eloquence, this will be a true apostleship of Christ, because actions speak louder than words.

 

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From Don Schwager’s “Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations”:

Meditation: Why did Jesus perform the miracle of the great catch of fish? No doubt the great crowd of people who had pressed upon Jesus had something to do with this miracle. They were very hungry for God and were eager to hear his word. Jesus wanted to use this occasion to teach his disciples an important lesson. Although Simon was wearied from a night of fruitless toil, he nonetheless pressed upon Jesus for his word of command: At your word I will let down the nets. When you meet disappointment and failure, do you press upon the Lord, like Simon, to hear his word and to receive his command?

This incident tells us an important truth about how God works in and through us for his glory. God expects of us greater things than we can do by ourselves. When we cooperate in his works, we accomplish far beyond what we can do on our own. Therese of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun who died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-four, wrote to a friend: “Jesus has so incomprehensible a love for us that he wills that we have a share with him in the salvation of souls. He wills to do nothing without us. The Creator of the universe awaits the prayer of a poor little soul to save other souls redeemed like it at the price of all his Blood.” When God’s word is spoken his kingdom is revealed and his power is released. When people respond to God’s word with faith and obedience they are changed and made “a new creation” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). God chooses ordinary people, like you and me, as his ambassadors and he uses the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives and work situations to draw others into his kingdom.

Jesus speaks the same message to us today: we will “catch people” for the kingdom of God if we allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine through us. God wants others to see the light of Christ in us in the way we live, speak, and witness the joy of the gospel. Paul the Apostle says, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ Jesus always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15). Do you witness to those around you the joy of the gospel and do you pray for your neighbors, co-workers, and relatives that they may come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and grow in the knowledge of his love?

*“Lord Jesus, fill my heart with love and compassion for those who do not know you or follow you. May I be a good witness of your truth and salvation to my family, friends, and co-workers.” *

 

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Sunday Bible Reflections, by Dr. Scott Hahn:

Simon Peter, the fisherman, is the first to be called personally by Jesus in Luke’s Gospel.

His calling resembles Isaiah’s commissioning in the First Reading: Confronted with the holiness of the Lord, both Peter and Isaiah are overwhelmed by a sense of their sinfulness and inadequacy. Yet each experiences the Lord’s forgiveness and is sent to preach the good news of His mercy to the world.

No one is “fit to be called an apostle,” Paul recognizes in today’s Epistle. But by “the grace of God,” even a persecutor of the Church—as Paul once was—can be lifted up for the Lord’s service.

In the Old Testament, humanity was unfit for the divine—no man could stand in God’s presence and live (see Exodus 33:20). But in Jesus, we’re made able to speak with Him face-to-face, taste His Word on our tongue.

Today’s scene from Isaiah is recalled in every Mass. Before reading the Gospel, the priest silently asks God to cleanse his lips that he might worthily proclaim His Word.

God’s Word comes to us as it came to Peter, Paul, Isaiah, and today’s Psalmist— as a personal call to leave everything and follow Him, to surrender our weaknesses in order to be filled with His strength.

Simon put out into deep waters even though, as a professional fisherman, he knew it would be foolhardy to expect to catch anything. In humbling himself before the Lord’s command, he was exalted—his nets filled to overflowing; later, as Paul tells us, he will become the first to see the risen Lord.

Jesus has made us worthy to receive Him in the company of angels in God’s holy Temple. On our knees like Peter, with the humility of David in today’s Psalm, we thank Him with all our hearts and join in the unending hymn that Isaiah heard around God’s altar: “Holy, holy, holy….” (see also Revelation 4:8).

 

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Adventure or Cautious Mediocrity?, by Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D.

I especially like this one!

Peter. Paul. Isaiah. Frodo Baggins. They have more in common than meets the eye.

Of course there are differences, too. Peter is a small business man, trying to wring a living for his family out of a lake in Hicksville. No one expected much from Galilee. Its inhabitants had a thick country accent that gave them away every time, like when Peter denied Christ in the high priest’s courtyard (Mat 26:73). Saul, on the other hand, was cosmopolitan, highly educated, well traveled, and even a Roman citizen. Isaiah lived seven centuries before them, in a very different social context. Frodo Baggins lived in Middle Earth, which is to say, in the imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien, and now lives in the imaginations of millions.

But here’s what they have in common. They were all minding their own business, intent on their own careers, when they were abruptly interrupted. They each had an encounter with something, Someone, much bigger than themselves, and were invited to embark upon a Great Adventure. The same vision was revealed to each of them. That behind the appearances of the humdrum of everyday life, there was a battle going on, a dramatic struggle with very high stakes. People were in bondage but D-day had come. The forces of salvation were on the move. And each of them, Peter, Paul, Isaiah, and Frodo, were called to enlist.

None of them would have been voted most likely to succeed. Isaiah thought he’d die. Peter felt so unworthy that he begged Christ to leave. Paul lamented the blood that was on his hands. Frodo staggered under the burden of his appointed task.

But they all said yes. And though they met hardship, withering resistance, and had to face the bitter disappointment of their own sin, they kept going. They left behind the familiarity of the lake, the synagogue, the shire, and embarked upon a Great Adventure. That Adventure brought them through suffering to everlasting glory and made them men that they never imagined they could be. Isaiah’s words have been sung by innumerable choirs of men and angels over two thousand years of Masses. Peter’s successor now reigns amidst the ruins of the empire that tormented the martyrs. And Frodo, the pint-sized Hobbit, completes his mission, despite his weakness, and brings down the power of the Dark Lord.

They all illustrate the words of Jesus that the last shall be first, that the least shall be greatest, that God chooses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Our hearts are warmed by the Gospel story. We applaud at the conclusion of the Lord of the Rings.

And then we go back to business as usual, never suspecting that we may be called, just as they were called. That the battle rages around us, as it did around them.

We are just like them. Imperfect. Unworthy. Busy with other things. The reality is that each one of us is called to the heights of sanctity, to become something beautiful and mighty for God. God has destined each one of us to change the course of history, to leave an everlasting mark on the destinies of countless people. There are different roles to be played, of course. Mary’s role was different from Isaiah’s, Magdalen’s, Paul’s, and Peter’s. Frodo, Aragorn, Pippin, Sam — all had different though equally essential roles.

But most of us will prefer reading about the exploits of others rather than answering our own call, staying in the Shire where it is comfortable, safe, predictable. The word “pagan” means non-combatant. “Christian,” on the other hand, means anointed for combat. There really is no room for the spiritual coach potato in the Kingdom of God. Being a Christian is not about getting to heaven by the skin of your teeth after a life of cautious mediocrity. It’s about an adventure that leads to glory, but only through perilous battles. You can choose to be safe if you want. But the possibilities of who you could have become and whose lives you might have saved will always be there to haunt you.

 

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From The Word Among Us magazine:

**
Meditation:** *Luke 5:1-11 *

When was the last time God got your attention?

Think back to the last time you found yourself almost speechless because you had come face-to-face with some manifestation of his love, his power, or his majesty. How did it happen? Did a passage from Scripture leap out at you and pierce your heart? Was it through the beauty of a spectacular sunrise? Was it in the birth of a baby?

In today’s readings, we see three different ways God spoke to his people and changed them. In the Gospel, we see Jesus blowing Peter away through a large catch of fish (Luke 5:5-8). The first reading tells how Isaiah was cut to the heart by a vision of God’s heavenly throne (Isaiah 6:1-4). And in the second reading, we hear how Paul received the gospel both through personal revelation and through the testimony of the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). God speaks in so many different ways, but one thing is always the same: He wants to reveal himself to us.

On one level, the Bible is one big story of God revealing himself again and again to his people. It begins with Adam and Eve, and progresses through Noah and his family, to Abraham and Sarah, then on to David, the shepherd who became king, to Isaiah and the other prophets, then to a young woman named Mary. And it didn’t stop when Jesus came into the world. The New Testament is filled with stories like Peter’s and Paul’s, Lydia’s and John’s, and so many others. And every one of them had a personal encounter with God that radically changed their lives.

With all this evidence, how can we doubt that Jesus wants to reveal himself to us? Even more importantly, how can we doubt that he wants to reveal himself to us today? At Mass today, or as you go through the day, keep your eyes and ears open. Jesus is everywhere. There is no place we cannot find him.

“Lord Jesus, what do you want to say to me today? How do you want to show yourself? Come, Lord, and open my heart that I may know your presence within me.”

Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 138:1-5,7-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

 

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A meditation from “Presentation Ministries”:

**Sunday, February 7, 2010
Fifth Sunday Ordinary Time
**
Isaiah 6:1-2, 3-8
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Psalm 138:1-5, 7-8
Luke 5:1-11

**THE EASY WAY **

“Upon doing this they caught such a great number of fish that their nets were at the breaking point.” —Luke 5:6

Jesus called Simon Peter out of his commercial fishing business by giving him the most successful day in its history (Lk 5:10). This is an unusual way to get someone to change jobs. Most people leave things when they’re falling apart, not when they’re going great. However, Jesus does things differently. He will sometimes make your business prosper if He’s calling you out of it.

Notice that Jesus did not call Peter to stop fishing for fish after a whole night of catching nothing. First, Jesus filled two boats full of fish (Lk 5:7) and then called Peter into fishing for men and women. Jesus wants us to obey Him and not just be victims of circumstance. Jesus loves to work through circumstances, but prefers to bless us into doing His will rather than force us. He prefers to move us from good to best rather than from bad to best, although most of us seem to respond more to problems than to God’s loving call.

How will you let God work with you? Does something bad have to happen to you before you repent? Do you insist on failing and suffering before learning the hard way? Change your job, life, and lifestyle because the Lord says so and not because you have had enough of the wages of sin (Rm 6:23).

**Prayer: **Father, may I move from grace to grace (see Jn 1:16) and not only from sin to grace.
**Promise: **“I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and in which you stand firm. You are being saved by it at this very moment.” —1 Cor 15:1-2
Praise: Praise the risen Jesus, Who has come to give us life in abundance (Jn 10:10).

 

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Thanks to all who have followed this thread to the end. Time to start preparing for the next one for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Have a blessed week.

 

[cheeto1]

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?

What strikes me is that when God calls them, each insists he cannot speak, but
for 2 different reasons. Jeremiah says he’s too young, and Isaiah says he has
unclean lips. This saying of Isaiah strikes me today because it is repeated by
Peter later in the gospel. What does it mean to have unclean lips? Were they
swearing? Were they telling inappropriate jokes? It seems to me that lots of
people have “unclean lips” and it doesn’t bother them at all. They don’t have any
problem doing whatever they think God wants them to do. It’s just, for some reason,
they don’t think God minds bad language.

 

[cheeto1]

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?

Your questions are just too hard, especially #2.
What struck me about this 2nd reading is that Paul says he is an apostle, even
though he says he hardly deserves to be. This is what makes me wonder if Paul
is the true 12th apostle, the one God chose Himself to replace Judas, when the
other apostles had chosen Matthias. In Matthew 19:28, the apostles are promised
12 thrones, and in Revelation 21:14 the names of the 12 apostles are written on
foundation stones. There can’t be 13 apostles, and Paul says he is an apostle,
by the grace of God, in this, today’s 2nd reading. Yet “the church” chose Matthias.

 

[cheeto1]

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)

Ah, thank you for this help! So the fish story comes twice, once at the beginning in
Luke, and once in the end in John. What do you think? Do you think it happened
both times? I would say, yes. The fish incident at the end was like the “road to
emmaus”. They recognized Him in the large catch, like they recognized Him in the
breaking of the bread.

 

[cheeto1]

"He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret: Also called the Sea of Galilee in Matthew and Mark, and the Sea of Tiberias in John. This was because its waters touched all of those regions surrounding it."
– Thank you for this interesting information! Were there any other names for it
that you know of?

 

[cheeto1]

“What do you think their thoughts were at this time after catching no fish?”
– Let’s just say, this would have been the wrong time to tell them to pay out
the nets. They were cold, and exhausted. As a man on the radio talking
about this said, “O.K., I’m a fisherman, you’re a carpenter. You want me to
do what?” I think he only listened because he heard Him teach first.

 

[cheeto1]

1. Peter asks Jesus to depart from him, “For I am a sinful man.” In reply, Jesus tells him not to be afraid. How often to feelings of unworthiness make you afraid to approach God? What do you do with that fear?

I am never afraid to approach God, since in my unworthiness, I only need Him more.
I would never even dream of asking Him to depart from me, only to come to me more!
But I am afraid, there could be something He wants and I’m not doing it. What do I
do with that fear? I just ask, and listen. That’s all I can do…

 

[cheeto1]

Thank you for all your hard work, you really made us think.
But now, what did You notice about today’s readings?

 

[Fidelis]

What strikes me is that when God calls them, each insists he cannot speak, but for 2 different reasons. Jeremiah says he’s too young, and Isaiah says he has unclean lips. This saying of Isaiah strikes me today because it is repeated by
Peter later in the gospel. What does it mean to have unclean lips? Were they swearing? Were they telling inappropriate jokes? It seems to me that lots of people have “unclean lips” and it doesn’t bother them at all. They don’t have any problem doing whatever they think God wants them to do. It’s just, for some reason, they don’t think God minds bad language.

I honestly never looked at the reading from this angle (more so from the blasphemy and lying aspect), but you are so right. There is so much bad language around (in every situation, even in front f kids) and I have to lay the blame on the media for that. Sure, people have always ‘cussed’, but the media glorifies it, puts it on the lips of “hip” and “beautiful” people. People seem compelled to imitate them and those who imitate them in turn. I’ve noticed that even among social networking sites like Facebook (where you think you know everyone) people actually go to the trouble to type out profanity (so it doesn’t just ‘slip out’) even though they know it offends others. This goes for both men and women–but mostly the women! Why is that?

Anyway, for a Christian, such language should have no place in us. St. Paul tells us to put away all filthy talk and, as you point out, God wants his people, at least in some sense, to be a people of *clean *lips.

 

[Fidelis]

Your questions are just too hard, especially #2.

It’s OK; there’s no wrong answer on a question like this.

What struck me about this 2nd reading is that Paul says he is an apostle, even
though he says he hardly deserves to be. This is what makes me wonder if Paul
is the true 12th apostle, the one God chose Himself to replace Judas, when the
other apostles had chosen Matthias. In Matthew 19:28, the apostles are promised
12 thrones, and in Revelation 21:14 the names of the 12 apostles are written on
foundation stones. There can’t be 13 apostles, and Paul says he is an apostle,
by the grace of God, in this, today’s 2nd reading. Yet “the church” chose Matthias.

The commentaries I have seen speculate that “the Twelve” does include Matthias, since he was picked to replace Judas. Remember that Christ did not just appear to the apostles on Easter Day/Evening; he stayed with them for forty days (Acts 1:3). Acts also says one of the reasons that Matthias was considered as a replacement for Matthias was because he was “one of the men who [had accompanied them] during all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among [them], beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from [them]” (Acts 1:21-22). So this implies that Matthias was with the rest during the time Jesus appeared during the 40 days. The number 12 was important to maintain at the time of Pentecost (the birth of the Church) because these Apostles were going to form the basis of God’s new people, just as the 12 tribes formed the basis for Old Covenant Israel.

Even though when we hear the word “apostle” (the word simply means “one who is sent”) we automatically think of The Twelve, Scripture scholars tell us that there were probably many more than just these–perhaps as many as 70. For example, we have St. Paul, as well as St. Barnabas (Acts 14) referred to as apostles. The Twelve, of course, have primacy in that they were picked personally by Christ during his time on earth and , comprising this significantly symbolic number, formed the basis of the new Israel.

You (and others) may find this article from New Advent helpful: The Apostles