LOWER ONE’S NET TO RISE UP



On this day our Lord is giving a beautiful message about the greatness of His choice and the humility of Man. The readings of 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time puts forth the calling of three important people in the salvation history. In the first reading we witness Isaiah telling how he was called by God to serve Him. In the second reading we see St. Paul testifying about his call. And at least in the Gospel Jesus is calling Simon Peter to be fisher of Men.
In all these readings we see two similarities. i) The call is given by God & ii) the person who is called shows humility. In the first and the second reading, Isaiah and St. Paul respectively were narrating their own call. They both affirm that they neglected and expressed their weakness to God when they were called. Let us put ourselves in the place of Isaiah and St. Paul. If we were to be there in their place and in a situation to respond to God call, what would have we done? It is a call given by God. When we respond to this we will be remembered in the history. The generations to come would praise us for accepting this great task. Thus, do we say yes, or No? Keeping the present scenario in mind many would say yes. Because, the name and fame will follow. But what happens here in the reading is that both Isaiah and St. Paul humble themselves before God. They don’t want name and fame, rather want to be His humble servants.
In the Gospel also we observer that St. Peter confessing that he is a sinful man and he cannot be the disciple of Jesus. But Jesus never minds the sinful nature of peter and invites him to follow him. So, when God calls, He never worries about our weaknesses and sinful nature. If he calls somebody, he would make sure that, that particular person does His will.
God has given life for everybody. All of us are called to be His sons and walk in the path of righteousness in spite of our weaknesses. But, God calls few people for special work. For those people, he never gives a chance to be swayed by their weaknesses. He is always with them. He perfects their weaknesses and lifts up their name. And those chosen people also show their humility. They never feel proud, they always lower their nets. Thus, two things: God’s call and one’s humility. If anyone of them is lacking, the goal cannot be achieved. Let’s lower one’s net to rise up in the history.  

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