(Fifth Sunday of the Year (C): This homily was given on February 8, 1998 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Isaiah 6: 1-8; Luke 5: 1-11.)

"The importance of reverence."

We begin today by consulting "Brother Webster." In the lingo of Franciscan Father Stan Fortuna, that means "the dictionary." Franciscans, like their founder St. Francis of Assisi, feel a kinship with all of God’s creation. And so they will speak of "Brother Sun" and "Sister Moon" and "Brother Fire" and "Sister Death" as St. Francis did. And some, like Fr. Stan, will even speak of "Brother Webster" (or "Bruthah Webstah" as he says it with his thick New York City accent).

In preparation for this homily, I consulted the good "bruthah" about the word "reverence" and this is what I found: Reverence is defined as "a feeling of profound awe and respect and often love; veneration."

Which leads me to ask: What has happened to reverence? Where has it gone? The opposite of reverence is profanation, which comes from the verb "to profane." Brother Webster says that profanation is "the desecration of something holy by using or treating a sacred person, place, or thing as though it were not sacred." That, unfortunately, is a phenomenon which is much more evident in today’s world. Singers like Marilyn Manson and Madonna ridicule religion in their songs. Television programs like "Nothing Sacred" do the same thing, although in a more deviously sophisticated fashion. In fact, in the case of "Nothing Sacred", the title of the show says it all, does it not? Comedians tell lewd jokes about the Church, the pope and the sacraments—and the really sad thing is that many people laugh.

In various and sundry ways, our modern culture is trying to program us to be irreverent toward God. And this, I would say, is at the root of many of our social and personal problems, although we may not realize it. You see, we were made to reverence the Lord. We were made to have a loving, reverential relationship with the Creator of the universe. But if we refuse to show God the reverence he deserves, or if we don’t realize that we should reverence him, then we will end up showing that reverence to someone or something else. This is why some of our young people almost have an attitude of worship toward rock stars, athletes, and media celebrities. They have misdirected their reverence. They’ve taken it away from God, and directed it toward another human being (or another group of human beings). This, of course, leads many of them to become cynical. That’s because, sooner or later, every human being disappoints us. And if we’ve given that human being our reverence, it will be devastating when that person lets us down.

In today’s first reading, Isaiah meets the Lord in a direct, powerful way. The text reads, "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." Now how does Isaiah respond to this vision? Does he treat the Lord like his next door neighbor? Does he say, "Hey, nice to see you, God. So glad you came by. How about a game of chess?" No way. He is AWESTRUCK. He’s filled with reverence--like the seraphim angels who were present and who covered their faces with two of their wings. Isaiah cries out, "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." Here we see another reason why reverence for God is important: it helps us to understand our identity as human beings. Isaiah’s reverence was accompanied by the realization that he was a weak, sinful creature. When he met the Lord in this direct way, he understood—perhaps for the first time—just how much he needed God’s grace and cleansing. "I am a man,’ he said, ‘of unclean lips." At that moment, Isaiah realized that he was not the Lord of his life. He realized that he couldn’t make it through life on his own power. He needed God’s power! In fact, I dare say that after his encounter with the Lord, you would never have found Isaiah jumping up and down on a beach and crying out, "I am god! I am god!"--like Shirley Maclaine did a couple of years ago on network television.

The reverential response of Isaiah to his vision is very much like the response of Peter on the day Jesus called him to be an apostle. Here, in Luke 5, after our Lord works a great miracle, Peter immediately falls to his knees and says to Jesus, "Leave me, Lord. I am a sinful man." Peter knew that the power of God had been at work in Jesus—he had two boatloads of fish to prove it--and he responded with a beautiful act of reverence. (Notice, by the way, that Jesus didn’t answer that prayer. He didn’t leave Peter, nor will he leave us. Even if we’re in a state of mortal sin, his grace will always be there calling us back.)

Which brings us, finally, to consider our own expressions of reverence for the Lord. Reverence, of course, is ultimately a matter of the heart; it’s something that’s present on the inside. But we’re supposed to reflect this attitude of the heart outwardly in our actions. Like the seraphim did. Like Peter did. The seraphim covered their faces with their wings out of reverence. Peter knelt before Jesus out of reverence. And we need, as Catholics, to express our reverence for our God outwardly—through appropriate bodily gestures. For example, the genuflection. When we come into church before Mass, we are supposed to genuflect toward the tabernacle before we enter the pew. We are also to genuflect to Jesus in the tabernacle before we leave the church after Mass. And we’re supposed to genuflect whenever we pass in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Or how about the slight bow of the head whenever we hear or say the name of Jesus? Many of you were taught to do that in Catholic school or CCD. Good. That’s a practice that the Church still mandates. Here I have a confession to make: I remember several years ago saying Mass for a small group of people—two dozen or so. And as I was giving my homily, I noticed that every time I mentioned our Lord’s name, they’d all bow their heads slightly—in perfect unison. I thought that was pretty neat, so I threw in a few extra "Jesuses" just to see them bob their heads! (Yes, I know, I do have a warped sense of humor at times. But I couldn’t resist!)

Now here’s one that the Church doesn’t mandate, but I and many other priests encourage it: the bow before receiving Communion. As the person in front of us is receiving, I think it’s most appropriate to make a bow to the Blessed Sacrament. It’s a beautiful act of reverence, and it’s also a reminder to us of what we’re about to do: receive the King of kings and the Lord of lords into our very bodies.

Those are just some of the concrete ways that we can imitate Isaiah the prophet and Peter the apostle.