Vocation Movement!

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
(Is 6:1-2, 3-8; 1Cor 15:1-11; Lk 5:1-11)
Vocation comes, sometimes, through the most unlikely circumstances. This Sunday we heard about the call of Isaiah,  Peter and Paul. We want to highlight the progression or growth in answering one's vocation. However, it is God who takes the initiative. And it is only when God takes the initiative can the vocation be genuine.

Simon Peter and his companions laboured all night but caught nothing. As he was warming up to go, Jesus made a demand of his boat. This is no small sacrifice but it's just the beginning of the encounter. Peter waited patiently, tired and disappointed. At the end of His preaching, Jesus said to him, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” There was much certainty in His voice, but that did not stop Peter from expressing his frustration. “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” The external act of donating his boat and time opened up the next level of encounter with Jesus.

At this second level, Peter is being asked to make an internal commitment. Jesus' request for Peter to go back to the waters would require him to change his mind, give up his convictions and rely on the authority of Jesus. This demand is the hinge. It is at the centre of every authentic vocational response. It is easier for one to give up his “boat”, money, time, etc than offer his mind, sentiments, etc. “But at your word I will let down the nets.” With these words, Peter submitted his inner dispositions to Jesus—total abandonment to the will of God. And he netted such huge blessings that was overflowing!

Peter's immediate response to the shoal of fish was humility. The same with Isiah and Paul. “For I am a man of unclean lips...for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” “He appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles...” “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, o Lord.” Humility is the gateway through which we pass from self-abandonment to the will of God, to total dying to self.

Finally,  all is now set for Peter to be invited to follow Jesus along the pathway that would lead to the Cross and Resurrection. “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” Having submitted his will, it became easier for Peter to answer this third demand. “And when they had brought their boat to the land, they left everything and followed Him.” Then he lives for Christ and Christ lives in him.

Fr Jude Chinwe Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Arch Angels Parish
Satelite Town, Lagos.
Sunday 10th February, 2019.