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5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Terranuova
Hermitage
February 10, 2013
Nothing and Proud About It!
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P.
Amato
Nothing…And Proud About It
There is an anecdote about a rabbi and a cantor
who are in the synagogue one afternoon.
They are preparing for Yom Kippur, the Jewish
Day of Atonement. The rabbi beats his
breast and says: “I am nothing, O Lord; I
am nothing.”
And the cantor then follows suit and begins
beating his breast and saying: “I am
nothing, O Lord; I am nothing.”
And then, from the back of the synagogue, a
third voice is heard – the maintenance man.
He is also heard saying: “I am nothing, O Lord; I am nothing.”
And with that, the rabbi whispers to the cantor, “Just look who thinks he’s nothing.”
Being
Aware of Who We Are
That anecdote, in a humorous way, helps us to
appreciate the lesson of today’s readings.
Isaiah in the first reading, Paul in the second,
and Peter in the gospel, all have the same experience. Let’s just look at Peter.
Peter becomes aware of the presence of the
divine in Jesus with the great catch of fish.
He responds by saying, “Depart
from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
So Peter has this intense experience of God, of
the holiness and power of God in Jesus.
And with this awareness, he in turn becomes aware of himself and his own
humanity – his dark side, his weakness and limitations in comparison.
This awareness – first of God, and then of self
– enables Peter to do great things. It
enables him to grow toward being the kind of person God creates and calls us to
be.
This awareness is also important for us – for
all of us, equally, whether rabbi, cantor, or maintenance man. We all need this awareness.
There are three moments right here in the
celebration of Mass when we have the opportunity for this. There are three opportunities to be aware of
the presence and holiness of God, and then aware of our humanity and our need
for God.
Opportunities for
Awareness
The first opportunity comes right at the beginning
of Mass. It happens in what we call the
Penitential Act.
The core of this is our first becoming aware of God,
of God’s presence with us. With this
awareness, we can then get in touch with ourselves.
We are to realize that we are not God – that we are
human, a mix of light and darkness, still unfinished and on our journey to
God. With the openness that this
awareness brings, we are to allow the Lord to make us whole and permeate our
lives more and more.
Then the second opportunity for being aware of who
we are with the proclamation of God’s Word in the readings. We believe that these are inspired passages –
that human authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit and this is the very Word
of God.
Consistently, placed before us is the unconditional
love of God. Consistently, placed before
us, are the compassion, goodness, wisdom, and holiness of Jesus.
And so again, with this awareness and comfort, we
also become aware of some discomfort, some area where we need to respond more
fully to God and live better, our side of the relationship. Again, this is an opportunity to be aware of
our humanity.
Finally, the third opportunity for being aware of
who we are is when we receive Communion.
We believe that Jesus is really present and comes to us in the bread and
wine.
Our receiving the Eucharist – Jesus’ body and blood
– gives us a very intimate relationship with God. This is why we call it Holy Comm-union.
And so again, with this awareness of God’s presence
and of the holy gift we receive, we are also aware of our dire need for
relationship with the divine and for grounding our lives on the One who is at
our center so we don’t spin out of control.
We are aware that without this center, we will be
lost, without purpose, and probably sinful.
Conclusion
So we have these opportunities for awareness right
here at Mass – to be aware of God and aware of self.
And perhaps the important insight in the experience
of Peter, Isaiah, and Paul today is this.
We will only really be aware of our humanity when we are aware of God.
It is only in the presence of God, the all-holy One,
that we can gain the fullest and most accurate sense of self. This is one reason why our celebration and
participation in Mass is so very important week after week.
