February 10, 2013

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Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 75

Reading 1
Is 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.

Isaiah saw a vision of God.
Seraphim are angels.
I don't know what "the train of His garment" represents.  But since it filled the Temple, which is probably Heaven, then it could be the Holy Spirit.

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.

And then he heard the angels sing the thrice Holy prayer.  And the "frame of the door shook".  I'm thinking the frame of the door represents the entire building.  Which again, is a representation of Heaven.

And the house, or heaven, was filled with smoke.  The smoke is another reference to the Holy Spirit.  But it could also be a reference to the prayers of the Saints.  The house is the Temple or heaven.

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 Isaiah became afraid because he recognized his sins.

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 one of the angels purified his lips with a piece of coal from the altar.

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!”

Then God asked for a volunteer to represent Him to the people.  And Isaiah said, "Send me!' 

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8

R. (1c) In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

The angels see everything that we do.  They are in heaven.  Therefore, the Psalmist says, "I will always praise you my God."

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

I am grateful for all you have given me God.  For you have answered my prayers.
I will always give you glory.  I will adore You in your Church.

Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

Because you are good and trustworthy.  For you have always kept your Word.
When I prayed, you heard me and gave me strength.

All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O LORD,
when they hear the words of your mouth;
and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD:
“Great is the glory of the LORD.”
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

All rulers on earth will praise You and give You thanks when they recognize that Your way is great.

Your right hand saves me.
The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

God, you are my Saviour.  You will accomplish in me, Your will.  Never forget me, Lord.

Reading 2 from the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians
1 Cor 15:1-11 or 15:3-8, 11

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,
of the gospel I preached to you,
which you indeed received and in which you also stand.

I am repeating the Gospel which I taught you before and which you understood.

Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.

You will be saved by the Gospel if you obey.

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;

I passed on to you what I received.  That Christ died for us, as prophesied by the Old Testament Scriptures.

that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;

That He was buried and rose on from the dead in three days, also as explained in the Scriptures.

that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.

That He appeared to St. Peter and the other Apostles.

After that, Christ appeared to more
than five hundred brothers at once,
most of whom are still living,
though some have fallen asleep.

And then appeared to about 500 hundred disciples of which some are still alive.

After that he appeared to James,
then to all the apostles.

After that He appeared to St. James and to all the Apostles.

St. Paul seems to repeat himself here, since he already mentioned Cephas and the twelve, which are the Twelve Apostles.  (Not Judas Iscariot, of course, since he had been replaced by Silas by then.)

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.

He is referring to the time when Jesus knocked him off his horse, on the way to Damascus.  St. Paul, or Saul, was on his way to persecute the Christians there.

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.

By the grace of God, St. Paul was saved and turned into a major force in the Christian movement.  Therefore, he says, whether it be by the preaching of the Twelve, or by the preaching of the other Disciples, or from me, we have preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you have accepted it.

or the alternate reading which is simply a short version of the primary reading.

Brothers and sisters,
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, he 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 abnormally born,
he appeared to me.
Therefore, whether it be I or they,
so we preach and so you believed.

Gospel according to St. Luke
Lk 5:1-11

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.

Jesus was preaching to the people.  But there were so many, that Jesus decided to climb into St. Peter's boat and push away from the shore.

Actually, water is a very good conductor of sound.  And that may have helped everyone to hear the lessons He was teaching.

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.”

After He taught the people, Jesus said to St. Peter, "Take the boat into deep water and cast your nets."

Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”

St. Peter said, "We've been working all night and caught nothing.  But we will do so because you command it."

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.

They did so and caught so many fish that they had to call for help to haul them in.

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.

And they were all astonished at the number of fish that had been caught.  But Simon Peter recognized that Jesus was of holy origins and said, "Depart from me, God, for I am sinful."

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.

And Jesus said to St. Peter, "Don't be afraid.  From now on, you will be fishers of men."