by Fr Raymond Raj
Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8
Psalm 137:1-5,7-8
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
Theme: God’s Holiness
Brothers and sisters in the blessed Lord, in comparison with all the religions and teachings in the world, Christianity is very, very interesting compared to all the other religions. Because Christianity does not begin with our decision to follow Christ but rather God’s invitation to follow Him. Christianity means God’s invitation to follow Him.
On that note, following Christ will cost us everything. But you can take my word today, trust me, it is worth following Christ. It is worth.
Dear friends, when we are passionate about our faith, following Christ becomes very meaningful and joyful. However, if there is no fire, if there is no passion in our hearts, following Christ becomes a ritual and we become miserable. Speaking of following our passion and dreams, a little story comes to my mind.
One day, a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach with his fishing rod resting on the sand on the beach. He was enjoying the warm of sunshine with a beautiful sight of the rainbow. As time passed by, a businessman came along walking down the beach trying to destress himself. He noticed the fisherman was lying down so he decided to find out why this fisherman is relaxing and not working out there at the sea. Why is he lying down?
So the businessman approached the fisherman and said, ‘
Hello, mister. By lying down, by relaxing like this, you can’t catch any fish. You should be at sea working, catching fish not lying down like this.’
The fisherman smiled to the businessman and said,
‘And then what? And then what?’
The businessman said, ‘
Then you can buy a bigger net and catch more fish.’
The fisherman again smiled and said,
‘And then what?’
The businessman said,
‘And then you will make a lot of money! And you can buy a bigger boat, catch more fish.’
And the fisherman replied,
‘And then what?’
‘And then you can buy a fleet of fishing boat and then you can go for holidays. Your employees will catch fish for you.’
Again the fisherman smiled and said,
‘And then what?’
The businessman got a little bit mad and shouted to him,
‘And then you can spend all your time in the world in the beach, lying down, looking at the sunset and rainbow.’
The fisherman smiled and said,
‘Don’t you think I am doing it right now?’
Brothers and sisters, when we stop chasing the world’s happiness, we begin to realise that Christ is all that we need.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus caught sight of two boats close to the bank. Out of these two boats, Jesus got into one of the boats. Not two. There were two boats but Jesus got into one of the boats.
Brothers and sisters, what can we learn from this?
Jesus got into one of the boats not two. Jesus got into the boat that was interested to do God’s mission on earth. Jesus chose the boat that was willing to evangelise.
So my dear friends, as a baptised Christian, what is our attitude when it comes to evangelisation? What is your attitude?
I suppose there can only be two types of evangelists in this world.
The first one is like the businessman in the story that I told earlier. Wanting to work hard to make more profit. The first type.
The second type is the fisherman who decided to sit back and relax and enjoy the show.
Brothers and sisters, out of these two category of evangelists, to which do we belong?
Jesus calls us today to be fishers of men. In another word, Jesus is calling us to be evangelists. Brothers and sisters, our life on this planet earth is very short and brief. Therefore, you and I must not wait till the last hour to evangelise.
Very often we tell ourselves evangelisation is the work of clergy, is the work of charismatic people. Therefore, as a lay faithful I don’t do anything. I just attend Mass after Mass. I don’t evangelise. We convince ourselves.
Brothers and sisters, as a baptised Christian, all of us, regardless of our vocation and age, we are called to be evangelisers. And the secret to be evangelisers is being familiar with the Word of God. Unless and until, trust me, unless and until you and I are familiar with God’s word, evangelisation is just another dream.
So today in this Holy Mass we pray for the grace to be an evangelist who is in love with God’s word.
And I leave you with a short verse to ponder over this weekend:
When a Catholic is filled with the Word of God, you cannot keep him still. He must either speak or he must die.
Amen.
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