When a person finds the love of their life, they will go to any lengths to be with that love. They will follow that love wherever it goes or wherever love calls that person to be. Today's readings present us with three people who fall in love and follow that love wherever that love asks: Isaiah, Paul, and Peter. In reflecting upon their calls from God, we can better appreciate the calling each of us has from God, described so well in Lumen Gentium: "All the faithful, whatever, their condition or state - through each in his own way - are called by the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which our heavenly Father himself is perfect. By means of their special vocation, it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairms and directing them according to God's will" (#11, 31).In the first reading the prophet Isaiah receives his call to be a prophet of God in the midst of great trials in the land of Israel. King Uzziah had died and the nation would once again drift into idolatry and injustice. The task of the prophet was a difficult one, and Isaiah did not feel worthy to receive the call. Yet, God cleansed him from his sins and encouraged Isaiah to move forward with the mission entrusted to him. This encounter with God gave the prophet the strength he needed to carry out God's will in his own time.
Similarly, Paul recounts for us how he had been called by the Lord to be an apostle of the new Christian community. He too felt unworthy of the call, even as he writes about it in the midst of his mission. Yet, Paul did not let his imperfections prevent him from following Jesus and performing the works of the kingdom of God. We too should not let our weaknesses prevent us from fulfilling the vocation to which we are called. John Henry Cardinal Newman describes well this feeling: "God has created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work for me to which he has not committed to another...Somehow, I am necessary for his purposes...if, indeed, I fail, he can raise another, as he could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling" (Meditations on Christian Doctrine, I: 2).
Finally, we meet Peter in today's Gospel. Peter had already been called by Jesus to follow him. Here, however, Peter finds out just what it means to be a disciple. He had been out all night fishing and caught nothing, even though night is the best time for fishermen to succeed in their work. Jesus comes along and asks Peter to put out his nets in the middle of the day, the most unlikely time for a huge catch. Peter knows that from a human point of view this request cannot possibly bring forth success. Yet, he obeys and brings forth a great catch of fish, and Peter realizes that the works of light are superior to the works of darkness. The supernatural outlook of the reign of God breaks forth in him, and while Peter too feels unworthy to be part of Jesus' mission, nevertheless the Lord encourages him to press on: the catch of fish is but a foretaste of a greater mission and success in the life of Peter.
The same is true for us in our own ministry. We cannot become discouraged at our sins and those of others. The essential aspects of ministry are found within these readings: we acknowledge our weaknesses and failings, we abandon ourselves completely to God, and we carry on the work God has called us to perform. May we be strengthened by the prayer of St. Ambrose: "Master, we have toiled all night and have caught nothing, but at your word, I will let down the nets. I, too, Lord, know that it is like night for me when you do not speak...I have sent out my voice like a dart...and have not yet captured anyone. I have called out all day; now I await your order; at your word I will cast my net. O empty presumption, O fruitful humility! Those who formerly caught nothing, Lord, now catch huge quantities of fish. This is not the fruit of human eloquence, but the result of a call from heaven. Amen" (Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, IV, 76).
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