Our readings today show Our Lord calling people to follow Him.  The call of the Lord comes in many ways:  through dramatic visions like the call of Isaiah, through the simple actions that we hear in the Gospel, or through the preaching of others as we see in the second reading.  God calls to his people in vairous ways, and he also calls us persistently, constantly, and in various ways.  The Prophet Isaiah describes his call as a kind of heavenly liturgy.  It’s a mysterious, mystical scene.  But it’s clear that Isaiah understands that God is reaching into his personal life and cleansing him so that he can proclaim God’s word to others.  Because of this awareness of being cleansed and purified, Isaiah feels that he can be a mouthpiece to be sent by the Lord to His People.  We can notice three things about this call: it comes from God, there is a time of purification, and finally, there is a willingness by the one who is called to respond.  Saint Paul speaks about his own personal call to serve the Lord, and it’s very similar.  It also comes directly from God; it purifies him; and he becomes willing to follow the Lord.  He adds: “I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace has been enough.”  We can sometimes feel unworthy of the call from God, but that’s okay!  We’re not the first to feel that way; even the Blessed Apostle Paul, who converted basically the whole world, felt that way.  When we become deeply aware of our utter dependence on God, that’s when this starts to work.  And God called and continues to call some pretty unsavory characters:  King David, Isaiah, St. Paul, Mary Magdalene, the penitent thief who shared the Lord’s Crucifixion, Fr. Hammond.  He’s also calling you.  I promise you, he is.  This should give you hope, that God knows you, cares about you, wants you to help him.  

But we might keep doubting.  We might keep wondering, and thinking, No, I’m sure it’s somebody else.  He can’t possibly be calling me, wanting to use me as instrument of his Holy Will.  I’m just a normal person.  You wouldn’t be the first to think that way.  The apostles were all very ordinary, frankly pretty unremarkable sorts of people.  But they are called.  Even St. Peter, the rock on whom the Church is built, doubts the words of Jesus commanding him to drop his nets, but he does it anyway.  It’s because Peter does it anyway that he discovers the presence of God and he follows Jesus.  We follow those same three steps ourselves.  God calls us, we’re purified and made ready, and then we say yes to his voice.  We are called first by our baptism.  We are purified by confession and other sources of grace, so that we can be ready to say yes to whatever the Lord is asking of us.  One more thing to notice about this, and this is how it all starts: it all begins with worship.  That scene in the book of Isaiah looks suspiciously like Mass, you might have noticed, and that is no accident.  I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne. Seraphim were stationed above.  They cried out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!  All the earth is filled with his glory!”  At the sound of the cry, the doorframe shook and the house was filled with smoke. All of this begins with Isaiah joining the heavenly liturgy; taking part in the worship the Holy Angels are constantly rendering to God.  That is the opportunity we are afforded here in this place at each and every Mass: to join the host of angels crying out to God, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord, the God of Hosts.  Heaven and Earth are full of his glory; Hosanna in the highest.”  

It's very providential that these were the readings for this week.  You may have noticed that are our altar has slipped back a few feet and up a step.  There were a lot of practical reasons I wanted to give that a try, but I also think it’s very powerful that our altar, where our most sacred moment happens, is right under this arch which represents heaven, and which is inscribed with those words, Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Holy, Holy, Holy: a constant reminder to us that what we do here is unfathomably sacred: we join in the what the angels do around the throne of God: we’re part of the reality Isaiah saw.  And this is how our call starts, this is how our call gets going. In our Worship, he calls us.  In our Worship, he purifies and strengthens us. In our Worship, he commissions us to do his work in the world.  Those questions we have: Is he calling me?  If so, what is he calling me to?  And how?  And when? And why?  God starts to give us answers to those questions in our worship of him in spirit and in truth.  Let us adore him; let us worship his majesty once again in this Holy Mass.  In our worship, let us make ourselves ready to hear his voice, whatever he might be telling us and asking of us.  Let us not be afraid to say Yes to his gracious invitation to follow him, to love him, and to serve him.