Sunday Homily, February 10, 2013, 5th Ordinary Time, C cycle
Readings:
Isaiah 6, 1-8, Whom shall I send? Send me.
Psalm 138, In the sight of the angels, I will sing your praises, Lord.
1 Corinthians 15, 1-11, I am the least of the apostles.
Luke 5, 1-11, They caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.
For those who don’t have a decent Bible or a book of the readings, here are two links that I use,
The Bible at Your Fingertips (http://st-luke-church.org/bible-at-finger-tips.php) and USCCB, The New American Bible (http://www.usccb.org/).
The difference? The first is Protestant more or less, and the second is officially Catholic and has the 12 little books in between the O.T. & N.T., called Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha.
Both are good translations.
Buying a bible? The Jerusalem Bible.
Isaiah 1
This is The Great One. The Prophet. My favorite. In general, this work has three parts put together by three different people. It is time dependent: before, during, and after the, you guessed it, the Babylonian Captivity. Keep 500 before Christ in mind as an easy date.
Last week we heard the story of the prophet Jeremiah’s call by Yahweh. This week we have Isaiah’s call.
Psalm 138
Want to hear something beautiful? Listen to today’s psalm. Another of my favorites. Thanks, thanks, and more thanks.
1 Corinthians 15
In last week’s Corinthians’ reading Paul described his vision of love. Today he continues talking to the people of his church in Corinth, focusing on how he was called by God.
The Small Call
I would like to talk this morning about small calls. Our readings are all about great calls, like Isaiah, to be God’s spokesperson. These calls come once in life, or a few times in life. I would like to suggest small calls come every day. Let me illustrate.
In Mexico City there is this magnificent avenue, Reforma, modeled by the Empress Carlotta on the famous Champs Elysee in Paris, built during our Civil War, say 1860. A week ago I was on Reforma one afternoon before returning to the U.S.
I was intrigued. The government provides rental bikes. Along the pedestrian islands that border Reforma are numerous racks of some 40 bikes which people can rent. People are riding these bikes all over the center of Mexico City. I wanted to know if I could rent a bike for a day.
I had asked a few people, but no one was sure. I was simply told that for $30 I could obtain a card which I could use to rent the bike for one year.
At one point I am standing beside the check-in post reading the instructions. You buy the card at a drug store, show proof of identity, and then swipe the card through the reader. It tells you what number bike is yours. You may return the bike to any of the numerous bike racks around the city center.
I finish unsatisfied, turn around, and watch a man ride up on one of the recognizable bikes. He puts it in the rack down the way, then begins to walk in my direction. He is middle aged, in his mid 50’s, trim, dressed neatly in business pants, white shirt and tie, and a small back pack.
I ask him if he could help me. I tell him what I want and he is sure I cannot rent a bike for a day. In fact, he thinks only citizens can rent the bikes.
We continue to talk. I tell him how I admire Mexico City for installing the bikes, that my wife & I, who ride a lot, saw the bikes two years ago when we were in town. He says he has seen them not only in Mexico City, but in cities in the States and in Europe. This tells me something, he has traveled internationally.
We have a charming conversation for about 10 minutes. As we part he tells me how he enjoyed conversing, welcome to Mexico, and, get this, he congratulates me on excellent Spanish!
Folks, I could have done a backward somersault in the air. I felt I could jump from tree top to tree top. I was so full, ecstatic, grateful. All the work I had put into Spanish over the years was worth it.
This is the small call, what that Mexican did. A compliment.
I would propose that we get small calls every day. A compliment, an offer to help, a thanks, an apology for a small mishap. The girl at the checkout has fancy fingernails; I tell her I like them.
These small calls fill others. With life.
What was your small call yesterday? Your next one?
