{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 9, 2025","description":"2025 Feb 9 SUN: FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Is 6: 1-2a. 3-8\/ Ps 138: 1-2. 2-3. 4-5. 7-8 (1c)\/ 1 Cor 15: 1-11\/ Lk 5: 1-11 If you're so smart, why aren't you rich? You've heard that expression. And it seems that in our culture, the test of whether you are intelligent is whether you make a lot of money. Now, in fact, there are plenty of intelligent people in the world who go about their lives doing things for which money is not the main object. But what do we have today? We have some people who consider themselves very smart and who happen to be very rich, and who say, "It's my riches that prove to me and to you that I am the most intelligent and I will go about doing things from my mind alone." These people are so full of themselves that they allow no room for some other inspiration, perhaps the voice of God Himself. In contrast, as we turn to the Gospel here, we find Peter with his net empty. And obviously he identifies with his net, and he feels himself empty. And that is a good thing for him, because in his emptiness, he does make room for the God who gave him life in the first place to surprise him and change him. And so the nets are tearing and the boats are in danger of sinking. And what does Simon Peter say to Jesus: "Depart from me, I am a sinful man." This is similar to the call of Isaiah when Isaiah responds, "I am a man of unclean lips." He is likewise empty and ready to receive what God gives him. And the gift is symbolized by the use of a burning coal on his lips, and the angel says, "There, now you are ready."  We cannot understand ourselves by means of our own projects. We must understand ourselves as being converted and remade by our God. And we have a very good example of this in what Paul has to say today. He says, "I do not deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Christian way, but by the grace of God I am what I am." And it is important -- indeed it is necessary -- for us to understand ourselves as being defined by the grace of God which has changed us, has given us peace, has given us a sense of generosity. And we can use that Psalm that we've sung today, Psalm 138. One of the lines in that Psalm is, "I thank you for your love for me which excels all I ever knew of you."  We are not to go through life full of ourselves. We recognize our emptiness and we make room for the love of the God who transforms us, who changes us, who gives us peace. ","author_name":"Sunday Homilies","author_url":"http:\/\/exsult1.libsyn.com","html":"