Reflecting on our readings this Sunday, we can find a common theme and it is about the call. The call of Isaiah in the first reading, the call of Paul in the second reading and the call of Peter, James and John in the gospel.
What is common to their calling is the feeling of unworthiness. They all felt unworthy of God. Isaiah said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips!” (Isaiah 6:5). Paul felt himself unfit to be called an apostle because he persecuted the church of God. (1Cor.15:9). And Peter fell down at Jesus’ feet and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
But notice what God did. As they humbled themselves and confessed their sinfulness and inadequacies before Him, He reached out and absolved them in order to be uplifted. In the case of Isaiah, one of the seraphs touched his lips with a burning coal taken from the altar of the temple and said to him, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out” (Isaiah 6:7). In the case of Simon Peter, Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people” (Luke 5:10). We see that their qualification for the work of God does not come from them but from God. It is not their personal achievement; it is God’s grace. That is why Paul could say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace to me has not been ineffective” (1Cor. 15:10).
And so, as they experienced the grace of God, we saw their responses: As soon as Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” his response was: “Here am I; send me!” (Isaiah 6:8). In the case of Peter and his partners, we were told that, “they left everything and followed him” (Luke 15:11) without looking back. And Paul threw himself with so much zeal into God’s work saying “not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1Cor. 15:10).
When we follow the guidance of the Lord in our lives, though sometimes we feel inadequate and unworthy, He gives us the grace in order to make things happen. All we need is our openness and willingness. There we will witness what God has in store for us.