5th Sunday
in Ordinary Time
February 7, 2016
Luke 5:1-11
“Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat of
Simon (Luk 5:3).”
Everyone has
its own vocation story. Whether priests, religious or lay persons, we have
those moments that open our eyes to where God calls us. One Filipino Dominican
priest recalled that his vocation to the Order of Preachers started because of
his former girlfriend. One day, his girlfriend brought him to Santo Domingo
Church to pray before our Lady of La Naval, and when they were there, he saw a
band of Dominican brothers entered the Church for the prayer. He was mystified
with their appearance and he began to fall in love with the Dominican habit.
The rest is history. For lay persons, the vocation stories might not be
obvious, but there are those tipping points that brought them to serve the Lord
passionately in the family, workplace or the Church.
Today’s Gospel
introduces to us the vocation story of Simon Peter. The story appeared in all
four Gospels and this points to the truth on how important Simon Peter is in
the college of Apostles. Luke gave us a slightly different background from
other Evangelists. He did not begin the story with Peter working as fisherman,
but with Jesus preaching and teaching. Simon must be inspired by Jesus’
preaching, and this explained why Simon was so docile when Jesus asked him to go
into the deep, despite the fact that Peter was a seasoned fisherman and Jesus
was a carpenter’s son. Like the story of Peter, all sincere vocation stories
takes its origin in the preaching of the Word of God.
Every time I
have the opportunity to speak before the Dominican laity, I always make a point
to explain that their first preaching has to be in the family. Before we have
outreach programs for the poor or the imprisoned, family has to be our mission.
To teach and raise their children into good Christians are never easy, but if
the parents refuse to do that, who else will do? In fact, the vocations to the
priesthood and religious lives may greatly diminish had the evangelization in
the family failed. I owe my vocation and faith to my parents. They never ceased
preaching both in words and in deeds to us. I always recalled how my mother
taught me praying the rosary, and my father brought us to the Church every
Sunday as family. They taught me also by example as they showed me the virtues
of fidelity, sacrifice and love. I love God and the Church, because I saw how
my parents also love God and the Church.
When St.
Dominic established the Order of Preachers, the first religious congregation in
the Catholic Church, that has active orientation toward evangelization, he did
not abolish the community life. In fact, he included it as an essential element
of Dominican life because before we go out, our community is the first
preaching mission. A good preaching in the community surely safeguards and
nurtures vocations of the preachers. Thus, I am deeply saddened when I heard
that a brother or sister left the convent because they no longer felt happiness
within the community. Or, children have problematic behaviors because their
parents did not become a good example for them. This is the sign of our failure
as preachers for one another.
Jesus reminded that our vocation is rooted, nurtured and flourishing because of preaching of the Gospel.
Jesus reminded
that our vocation is rooted, nurtured and flourishing because of preaching of
the Gospel. We have different callings with their unique stories, but as Fr.
Timothy Radcliffe, OP once said, we may enter the Order (or any state of life)
for the wrong reasons, but we must stay for the right reason. We believe that
one of that the right reasons is a good preaching among us.
Br. Valentinus
Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
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