DAY SIX - Here I Am Lord!

Today's readings reminded me of one of our English catechesis sessions given by Bishop Edward Burns on the theme 'Here I Am Lord!'

First Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8
'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!"


Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
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.
 

Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
"Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man." For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him...
Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men."

But firstly I'll backtrack a bit to explain what 'catechesis' was!

This is the typical schedule for World Youth Day:

So between the opening mass and the vigil, there are 3 mornings of catechesis in your own language. On these mornings we would leave our hostel by 7am to bus to our English speaking location; Iglesia San Francisco de Asís de la Caleta - the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (I think!).

We'd grab breakfast on the way, using our WYD meal vouchers at a nearby supermarket. One morning this was our meal! Stewed sausages ('salchichas guisadas' in Spanish) and some hash brown looking things that are not hash browns...I have no idea what they were made of....

 We'd learnt from the first time and got there early to grab the seats in the shade!

Our catechesis location

There are 3 things I took away from Bishop Burns' talk that day.

1. It's OK to think we can't do what God is asking us to do!

Bishop Burns shared with us the story of his call to the Priesthood.
In the beginning, he thought 'Nope! No way!'
He thought he wasn't holy enough, good enough etc... to be a servant of the Lord and to be able to do what God was asking of him.

And don't we all! Just like in all the readings today, like Isaiah, Paul and Simon; we doubt our abilities, we doubt our strength, we doubt when we are called to something greater. We let our sin and mistakes blind us from what we are truly capable of!

But as Bishop Burns said, "The Last Supper was a scandal! Our church was born in scandal!"
With Jesus dining with someone who would betray him, one who would deny him, someone who doubted, and in the midst of it all a fight breaks out about who is the greatest. Jesus didn't choose perfect people to be His followers - history proves that! But He choose those He knew could get the job done.


So if we think He's choosing us, who are we to doubt or run away!

2. We need to listen to God so we can succeed!

According to Bishop Burns, sometimes the Lord will call us, and we don't want the call He's asking of us.
But instead of saying, "Listen Lord, your servant is speaking" we should be saying "Speak Lord, your servant is listening!" 

To illustrate his point, the Bishop used the example of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17 - which I mentioned in my last blog post).

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” 

When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

Peter was in shock, he was talking to fill in the space and act like he knew what he was doing. But the Bible says 'While he was still speaking...' a voice came from Heaven and said '...Listen to Him!' They were afraid, and then Jesus came over and they saw only him.

So instead of talking, and continuously telling God we can't do what He's asking of us, we should listen to him! Because only then can we be at peace, unafraid, and able to clearly think about what He is calling us to do.

And then we can reply, "Here I Am Lord! Send me!" And that is the highest praise we can offer Him!

3. We are never alone!

The Bishop went on to talk about what happens after we finally say 'yes!'

The Bible tells us that after Mary gave her Fiat, her yes to God, the angel left her. 

But she didn't take back her yes because she felt alone and it seemed like God wasn't with her anymore. Instead she chose 'to trust in the mystery of God's call for her.' 

God wasn't telling her every single thing that was gonna happen to her in the future. "Hey Mary, thanks for your yes! Here's what happens next; Your baby will be born in a manger, you'll have to flee to Egypt 'cause Herod will kill newborns, you'll lose your child for 3 days, he'll be nailed to a cross" etc...).  

And (I've probably said this in an earlier post) I think that's cause God knows what He's doing. If He gave away everything now, we'd probably run away before we even gave him a chance! Looking back now, I know I probably would have if I'd known what was going to happen during my time on the Mission Team! We wouldn't believe Him, and we'd be too scared to face some of the suffering our yes would involve (because we can't carry our crosses without experiencing the weight of them!).   

God knows what He's doing! And once we say yes to him, and face the unknown with total trust, 'we shouldn't be discouraged if God seems distant at times.'
Because, as Mary proves to us, He will never leave us or forsake us!

From today's Psalm 138:

And remember - in the words of Bishop Burns;

"If you're going to say yes to God, hold onto your seats cause you're going to go for a ride!"