Reading I
Is 6:1-2a, 3-8
In the year King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above.
They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it, and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said; “send me!”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
(1c) In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.
In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O LORD,
when they hear the words of your mouth;
and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD:
“Great is the glory of the LORD.”
In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
Your right hand saves me.
The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
Reading II
1 Cor 15:1-11 or 15:3-8, 11
I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,
of the gospel I preached to you,
which you indeed received and in which you also stand.
Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, Christ appeared to more
than five hundred brothers at once,
most of whom are still living,
though some have fallen asleep.
After that he appeared to James,
then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
he appeared to me.
For I am the least of the apostles,
not fit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and his grace to me has not been ineffective.
Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;
not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.
Therefore, whether it be I or they,
so we preach and so you believed.
Gospel
Lk 5:1-11
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening
to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him. |
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Catholic Fundamentalism Interpretation:
Around 740 BC, I saw The Programmer at Programming HQ. His Programming Assistants were all around Him,
and They praised His Programming Power so loudly that the gateway between Him and the programmed entities was shaken, and Programming HQ was filled with His power.
I was worried, and said, "I'm going to be erased! My program is filled with error and I've been around human programs filled with error my whole life, yet I have seen The Programmer of All!"
Then, one of the most powerful Programming Assistants flew to me, with an ember he'd taken from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Now that this has touched your lips, you have been re-programmed, your errors have been erased."
Then, I heard The Programmer, Himself, saying "Who will take this download to earth to share with the human programs?"
"Here I am. Send me." I said.
In the sight of Your all-seeing Programming Assistants, I will sing Your praises, Programmer of all.
I will be grateful to, O Unprogrammed Programmer, with all my being. You know what's going on in my own program.
I will worship as you direct, and give thanks to Your Name.
The angels will see everything I do.
Because you are kind, and free from all error, for You have made Your Name and Promise greater than anything.
When I asked you for Programming Assistance, you downloaded it, and kept me free from error.
All the kings of the earth will be grateful to The Programmer.
When they become aware of Your Operating Instructions, they will praise You.
The angels will see everything I do.
The Power of The Programmer saves me, and He will complete my download. Your kindness, O Programmer, lasts forever. Don't forsake what You have programmed.
The angels will see everything I do.
I'm reminding you, my fellow believers, of The Operating Instructions I passed on to you. You've downloaded them and obey them.
Following those Operating Instructions allows your individual program to become part of The Program, but only if you obey them.
I gave the Operating Instructions to you, just as they were given to me:
The Program (Jesus Christ in human form) allowed Himself to be erased for us.
His biological support system was then buried.
Then, three days later, His Operating System was restored, just as prior downloads in The First Programming Log said that it would be.
Then, fully restored, He appeared to the one he'd left in charge. Then, to His twelve disciples. Then, He downloaded Himself in front of 500 believers. Most of them are still alive, (and can verify this).
Then, He downloaded Himself before James, then to all the apostles.
Finally, He downloaded Himself to me, personally, so I came to belief in an unusual way.
Because I persecuted the Church, I'm not fit to be called an apostle, but God erased the errors in me and, by His Grace, downloaded access to Him within me.
His help to me has helped, and has made me work harder than anyone, but it's not me that's working, but Him. So, no matter which of us tells you of Him, we preach, and you downloaded what we said.
The crowd at the Lake of Gennesaret was too close for all of them to hear Him, so He asked Simon Peter to row Him out into the water so that He could address the people.
He sat down in the back of the boat, and taught.
When He'd finished, He said to Simon, "Go where the water is deep and lower your nets to catch some fish."
Simon answered, "Master we've worked hard all night and caught nothing, but if You say so, I will go out and lower the nets."
They did. So many fish were programmed to be in the nets that the nets were coming apart and they had to get those in the other boat to come help them.
There were enough fish to fill both boats so full that they were about to sink.
Simon Peter, instead of focusing on the money they'd make, understood that Jesus had programmed the fish to appear in the nets, and he said:
"Leave me, Lord, for I'm a man filled with sin.
All the fishermen, Peter along with James, and John,
Zebedee's sons, part owners of the fishing franchise and equipment, were utterly dumfounded.
"Don't be afraid, Simon.", Jesus told him. "From now on you will be reprogramming the souls and lives of men, rather than trying to figure out where fish are programmed to be."
When they brought their boats to the shore, they left their earthly families, occupations, positions, and possessions and obeyed His Operating Instructions.
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