I chose you … to go and bear fruit (Jn. 15:16)

“Holy, Holy, Holy” recognizes the Lord’s incomparable holiness.  Before the Holy One of Israel or of the Church, the only appropriate reaction is Isaiah’s or Simon Peter’s.

In contrast to the self-righteous who kick those who are already down, the One who alone is Holy lifts them up.  Purging the sin of the man of unclean lips, God makes him his prophet; the Son of God encourages the self-confessed sinner, assuring him:  “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”  It is thus indicated that self-absorption is not allowed (may we be delivered from it with the help of almsgiving, prayer and fasting), for it is not about us, but rather about God.

Let eyes be fixed, then, not on the increase of sin, but rather on the overflow of grace.  Although, as St. Bernard teaches, our conscience is distressed when we sin gravely, still we must not feel doomed, since there is no sin that one who was wounded for our iniquities cannot pardon.  Hence, we can never again be terrified by the malignancy of sin.

Likewise, may the focus be on the mission to which the Word of God calls us.  It does not really matter that one has been a failure, like the fishermen who did not catch anything all night long.  Nor is it a hindrance that another has lived a not so Christian, or even an anti-Christian, life similar to that of the one who before used to persecute the Church.  What is decisive is that both the one and the other surrender to the one who alone justifies and have faith in Jesus who died for our sins, was raised on the third day, appeared to the disciples and, through the Spirit, keeps showing himself alive and close to those who, without seeing, really believe with the heart for justification, and confess with the mouth for salvation (Rom 10:8-10).

In fact, no one is worthy.  Neither vocation nor election nor success depends, on our works but on God’s design and grace (2 Tim. 1:9).  Without him, we cannot do anything good.

Hence, divine indispensability is plainly revealed in the meek and humble of heart who, like St. John Bosco and St. Vincent de Paul (the spirit of the latter served as a guide too to the former), make their own Jesus’ method:  they restrain themselves rather than get angry; they persuade more than they threaten; they are firm but kind and do not persist in punishing and giving in to impatience and pride; they treat sinners with kindness, offering them hope; they are not absorbed in showing off their authority and spilling out their anger, but devote themselves instead to serving, ashamed to assume an attitude, or the semblance even, of superiority.

Indeed, those who point to the only Mediator are not the ones who are to be listened to and obeyed, for they occupy the magisterial seat, yet have become hypocritical, unbearable and unworthy of being imitated.  Rather, they are those who endeavor to live what is celebrated in the Eucharist, equipped by grace to give their lives for others, including those who are not deserving.