Discussion Questions

First Reading

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8

F1. When you examine these readings, do you see what Isaiah, Paul and Peter have in common? What is it?

F2. God had some big tasks in mind for Isaiah, Paul and Peter. What might be some small things or baby steps that God could call us to do first, till we get used to saying yes to bigger tasks?

Second Reading

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 or 15:3-8, 11

S1. Paul persecuted the Church, but then, because of grace, he became a great minister. Was he given the grace solely for his own benefit? Explain.

S2. “For I am ... not fit to be called an apostle. … ” Do you think “fit” or “worthy” is the measure that God uses to call a person? Discuss the inconsistency between what Paul was and what he was asked to do? Is anyone “fit” or worthy?

Gospel

Luke 5:1-11

G1. Where did Peter have to go before he could catch the fish in the lake? Where did he have to go in his personal life before he could “catch” people for God? Was everything up to him or did Peter receive extraordinary help? When are you yourself on the shore and when are you in the deep?

G2. What does Pope Francis say happens when we invite Jesus into our life boat even when we have nothing to offer him?

What do you think we will find when you go out into the deep, or as Pope Francis says, to the “open sea of the humanity of our time”? Starvation for food, ecojustice and racial justice, mercy? How can we be witnesses to goodness and mercy now in the sea of humanity of our time?

So what does the Lord do? He chooses to climb into our boat. He wants to proclaim the Gospel from there. It is precisely that empty boat, the symbol of our incapacity, that becomes Jesus’ “cathedra,” the pulpit from which he proclaims the Word. And this is what the Lord loves to do—the Lord is the Lord of surprises, of miracles in surprises—to climb into the boat of our lives when we have nothing to offer him; to enter our emptiness and fill it with his presence; to make use of our poverty to proclaim his richness, of our miseries to proclaim his mercy. …

Do we make available to him the little we have? Sometimes we feel unworthy of him because we are sinners. But this is an excuse that the Lord does not like, because it distances him from us! He is the God of closeness, of compassion, of tenderness, and he does not seek perfectionism. He seeks our welcome. He says to you too: “Let me get into the boat of your life.” “But Lord, look. ... ” — “Like that, let me in, just as it is.” Let us think about this.

Pope Francis Angelus for 5 Ord C
Feb 6, 2022

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University