I bet this has happened to you.
You put new lights – brighter lights – into your kitchen,
and then, you look and grimace: hmm, that floor doesn’t look so good!
Or, it’s the bathroom, and you look in the mirror! Hmm, not so good!
That’s when you turn down the lights!
Something like that – yet far more transcendent –
happened to Isaiah in the first reading, to Paul in the second reading, and to Peter in the Gospel.
The intense reality of who God is
illuminated for them the disturbing reality of their own lives.
Isaiah said: "Woe is me, I am doomed!
Paul said, “I am not fit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.”
Peter said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
Now, perhaps you can think of a moment
when you experienced something like this.
I recall being on an airplane
and it suddenly went very bouncy-bouncy,
and I intensely wished I’d gone to confession.
My prayer was something like Isaiah’s.
But please notice, however disturbing this experience is,
it is a mercy – it is a grace!
Would it have been better had Isaiah not woken up?
Would Paul have been better off not converting?
Notice also, in each case, this searing of their consciences
preceded Isaiah, Paul or Peter being sent with a mission.
Please remember this whenever someone asks you
to pitch in or take on a project.
You might want to answer, no, ask someone else.
But what God really wanted to hear was Isaiah’s, “send me!”
There are a lot of individual tasks that make up our faith-family.
We all rely on people to organize different things.
By the way: sometimes people notice a change, and ask,
why did that change? Why did that go away?
Often the answer is, we need help to organize it.
And there really is something for everyone to do.
The overall mission is clear. You and I are witnesses of Jesus.
We are his messengers.
Being sinful and weak doesn’t disqualify Isaiah, Paul or Peter.
But they all needed conversion.
And for everyone who wonders, when will someone revive things?
Don’t wait for someone else. Answer like Isaiah: “send me!”
How do you do that? How is that accessible to absolutely everyone?
I’m going to give you five things everyone can do.
First: everyone listening to me can pray.
If you and I reach the Kingdom,
we’re going to be stunned by how much tired, persevering prayer
held this world together like spiritual duct tape.
Prayer doesn’t have to take hours of our day.
Start each day with the morning offering.
If you drive to work, turn off the radio
and pray the Rosary or Divine Mercy chaplet.
You’ll be a more patient driver, I prophesy!
Pause periodically – just for 10 seconds! – and remember God.
Second, everyone can say, “I believe in Jesus!”
Our little children can say that.
Our oldest, tired-est parishioners can say that.
You don’t have to be a theologian.
But it is our lives that make our words credible.
That leads to third: like Peter, Paul and Isaiah: seek conversion.
Ask, and God will light up what needs to change.
Fourth and fifth:
The early Christians won their world by their love.
They were generous and forgiving.
Everyone can give something.
And everyone, sooner or later, faces the choice to forgive.
That’s what it is: not a feeling but a choice:
To let go of that wrong and give that to God.
Imagine how Paul felt to be embraced
by the Christians he tried to kill!
What if they had refused?
So, there you have it: five ways everyone can answer the call.
Pray. And say. Convert. Give. And forgive.
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