Texts taken from the missal “On Your Word” January-February 2025
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
1st week, psalter
FIRST READING
From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Is 6:1-2a.3-8)
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; the train of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were stationed above him; each had six wings. They cried out to one another, saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of his glory.” The doorposts shook at the sound of that voice, while the temple was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew toward me; in his hand he held a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; therefore your guilt has departed and your sin is expiated.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I replied: “Here I am, send me!” –
The word of God.
Commentary on the first reading
The text presents Isaiah’s vocation, set within a vision in the temple, emphasizing the spiritual and religious dimension of this moment. The beginning provides historical details useful for placing the event in context: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.” The second scene depicts the Most High God amid hymns and sounds, underscoring his greatness: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” Finally, Isaiah’s smallness is emphasized as he feels involved in this scene: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips…” But vocation is God’s initiative, as the seraph explains when he approaches Isaiah: “One of the seraphim flew toward me… touched my lips and said: ‘Behold… your guilt has departed.’” The call does not depend on man, but on a choice made by God: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And Isaiah replied: “Here I am, send me!” At first he felt the burden of his inadequacy; after meeting the seraph, he understood that everything depends on God. God continues to ask his question to each one of us: “Whom shall I send…?” Now he awaits my answer and ours: “Here I am, send me.”
SECOND READING
From the First Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:1-11)
I proclaim to you, brothers and sisters, the Gospel that I announced to you and that you received, in which you stand firm and through which you are being saved, if you hold fast to it as I announced it to you. Unless you have believed in vain! For I handed on to you as of first importance what I too received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time: most of them are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy 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 toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than all of them—not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed. – The Word of the Lord.
Commentary on the second reading
Faced with the Corinthians’ difficulty in believing in Jesus’ resurrection, Paul reminds them that what he is proclaiming is not a fable, but—as the text says: “I proclaim to you the Gospel that I announced to you and that you received…”. His words are supported by his personal testimony—“I passed on to you… what I too received”—and by what those who went to the tomb, the Apostles, experienced and recounted. Paul does not understand this “rebellion” of the community, to the point of confiding a doubt about their struggle: “Unless you have believed in vain!”. In this way, he brings the community back to the path of apostolic faith, inviting each person to believe in this word and testimony. Today, this warning applies to each of us as well, because when faced with the struggle and doubt of faith, we risk chasing who knows what answers, when we have the Church, mother and teacher.
GOSPEL
From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 5:1-11)
At that time, while the crowd was pressing around him to hear the word of God, Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two boats moored at the shore. The fishermen had gone ashore and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to move a little away from the shore. He sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon: “Put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied: “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing; but at your word I will lower the nets.” They did so and caught a great number of fish, and their nets were beginning to tear. So they signaled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats until they were almost sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees, saying: “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinner.” For astonishment had seized him and all those who were with him because of the catch they had made; and so too James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. Jesus said to Simon: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” And after bringing their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. - The Word of the Lord.
Commentary on the Gospel
Isaiah’s vocation (the first reading) prepared us to enter into the meaning of the Gospel passage, where Peter’s experience is presented to us. Jesus finds himself having to face the crowd and, getting into a boat, asks to move a little away from the shore so that he can speak in peace. When he has finished speaking, he says to Simon: “Put out into the deep and lower your nets.” Simon is perplexed: “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing…” Simon is an expert fisherman, to the point of being a leader, and he knows well that all the fishermen’s eyes are fixed on him. Fishing is done at night, not in the morning, and putting out into the deep means taking a new kind of risk. If he fails, what will the others say? This is Simon’s fear. And while thinking all this, he nevertheless adds: “At your word I will lower the nets.” The Evangelist notes: “And they caught a great number of fish.” Thus, while the hard work of the night produced nothing, trust in Jesus brought abundance. Looking at Simon - a sinner like us - we learn to put out into the deep, to leave behind our certainties and calculations, and to lower the nets of our commitment wherever the Lord asks us. Let us not remain prisoners of our limited experiences or of other people’s judgment; let us trust. He will take care of the rest.
