5th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Cycle C
February 6, 2022 5pm
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
Aware of God and Self
Isaiah, in today’s first reading, has this amazing vision of God and is aware of the God’s presence. He quickly becomes aware of himself and his human imperfection.
But then Isaiah experiences God taking him as he is and even sending him to do God’s work. He accepts this calling.
Paul, in our second reading, has experienced the risen Christ and is aware of God’s presence in Christ. And this leads him to be aware of himself and his human imperfection.
But again, Christ has spoken to him and asked him to be a disciple. And Paul humbly accepts this calling.
Finally, Peter, in today’s gospel, has this profound experience of Jesus as the Lord. He becomes aware of God’s presence in Jesus and this leads him to be aware of himself and his own human imperfection.
But again, Jesus tells him not to be afraid but to become an active disciple. And Peter accepts this calling.
So, for Isaiah, Paul, and Peter – they are first aware of God and then aware of themselves. And this awareness enables them to respond and become the kind of person God calls them to be.
This awareness is also important for us – the awareness of God and the awareness of my own humanity. There are three moments here in the Mass where this same awareness can happen and be transforming for us.
Aware in Mass
The first moment comes right at the beginning of Mass in what we call the penitential prayer. The core of this is our becoming aware first of God and God’s love for us.
Then, with this awareness, we can get in touch with ourselves. We realize that we are not God.
We become aware that we are human, imperfect, in need of growth. And with this awareness, we can then allow the Lord little by little to heal us and permeate our lives more and more.
The words “May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life” highlight this moment for us.
Then the second moment for special awareness is with the readings. We believe that these are inspired passages – that the human authors are inspired by the Holy Spirit.
The readings place before us the unconditional love of God. They express the compassion and wisdom of Jesus.
And again, with this awareness, we also become aware of some area where we need to live up better to our side of the relationship with God. So again, this is an opportunity to be aware of God and of ourselves and our humanity.
The expression at the end of each reading “The Word of the Lord” and our response “Thanks be to God” highlight this moment for us.
And then the third moment for special awareness is when we receive Communion. We believe that Jesus is present and comes to us in the bread and wine.
Our receiving the Eucharist gives us an intimate relationship with God. This is why we call it Holy Communion.
And so again, with this awareness of God’s presence, we are also aware of our deep need for relationship with the divine. We are aware that without this, we will be lost and alone.
The words as we receive Communion “The Body of Christ” and our response “Amen” highlight this moment for us.
Conclusion
So, we have these three moments for awareness right here at Mass.
And perhaps the important insight is this. We are only really aware of who we are when we are aware of God.
It is only in the presence of God, the all-holy One, that we can gain the fullest sense of self and become the person God has made us to be.
