5 Sunday Ordinary Time, C, 10 February 2013, Luke 5:1-11

The Calling of the Disciples
Mosaics from San Marco, Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello, and Murano

Can we trust anyone or anything today? The horsemeat scandal – it might be harmless to us, thankfully, but it  undermines our sense of trust. Needless to say, can we trust anyone? Bankers, politicians, bishops or priests? Trust is something that is ever shrinking in our world. Stocks in cynicism are rising – shares in deception appear to be on the increase.

Our faith is built on trust. A few years ago an 11 year old girl in a school near Castlerea in Roscommon asked me how I know that God exists. She wanted me to prove to her that God exists. So, I said to her that I cannot prove that God exists. I said to her that our faith, our Church, does not offer us any easy explanations for the existence of God.

No, instead, I asked her what her parish was called. She said it was called Castlerea. I said, yes, it is called Castlerea, but there is another name for it. She said she didn't know. So, I told her – the name of their parish was Kilkeevan – which literally means the Church of Kevin, or maybe we might say the Church of St Kevin. So, I said, for the most part we know that God exists because somebody called Kevin had experienced God so much in his own life that he felt called to follow God – and to tell other people about God. We remember him so well that we called the parish after him.

The same as here in Calry (St Patrick's Church) – we remember the Saints because of their role in telling us about the faith we share. For us then, the Saints can seem like really holy people – and yet everyday we are sharing our faith with other people, and other people are sharing their faith with us. So, we are Saints for each other.

Our readings this morning are all about encountering God and sharing that with other people. What is it like to encounter God? Well these biblical stories are a good starting point. In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear of Isaiah's call from God, and having met the Lord of hosts, Isaiah wonders how he will live. He is struck by his own lack of preparation, his lack of cleanliness to be present to God in such a way. This is an apocalyptic story of God's desire to have a relationship with us, even though we as human beings may feel incapable of such a relationship, unprepared for such a relationship, unworthy of such a relationship. It is the Lord's work to prepare the one who is called: by means of the seraph who cleanses Isaiah's lips – it is by the grace of God, Paul tells us that he is called an Apostle, and it is by the grace of encounter with Jesus that Peter, the self-confessed sinner in today's gospel, it is by the grace of encounter with Jesus that Peter can possibly follow Jesus. To follow Jesus means to be his disciple – that is, to leave everything, all material possessions to follow the Lord. What does this mean for us?

For me, this is the single most important thing in life – the encounter with Jesus. By means of this encounter, personally in my own life, I am able to stand here before you today as a priest of the diocese of Elphin. What was that encounter like? For me it was an experience of deep peace, an experience of deep love, an encounter with the holy. I remember sitting in the back of the Cathedral in Sligo after school sometimes. That peace that I encountered there was unlike any other kind of peace that I have ever experienced.

So, am I horsemeat or real beef? Can you buy this product and trust it? Am I the real deal? I believe that I am the real deal – I believe that you can trust me. I stand before you as a sinner, as a human being and as a man – but also as someone called and anointed, ordained to share the Good News, to preach the Good News of Jesus who is our peace. It is by God's grace, in keeping with God's own plans, not by my own doing, that I stand before you as a priest of Jesus Christ. And that, I think, is the only really true reason to become a priest today.