作者: Fr. Kimm 徐麗華譯
大家遇事兒都愛拖拖拉拉，我也不例外。如果你碰巧到我堂區的辦公室來看我，你可能注意到我那張已經有十多年的長沙發，仍像是新的一樣。那是因為它通常是被一堆紙張文件佔滿了，而沒有空間可以用來坐人。我當然打算有一天會把這些文件全部都整理乾淨歸檔，但這個案子被我一拖再拖。
讀經一中的依撒意亞先知沒有這種拖延的問題。當他一聽到天主說，”我將派遣誰呢？”，他立刻答覆：”我在這裡。”在福音中，伯多祿和他的弟兄，雅各伯及若望，都不是延宕者。一旦將他們的小船靠岸，立刻丟下他們的所有，跟隨耶穌，準備好做漁人的漁夫。
我認為你我可以從依撒意亞先知和宗徒身上得到一個啟示，就是對天主召叫的反應可以快些。比如，將祈禱納入我們生活的常規中；常去探望街坊的長者；在本堂中自願參與堂務的服務工作；讓自己的家人知道，他們是被你愛，也是被感戴著的；這些是我們不須等待太久，而立刻可以去做的。然而，我們也完全暸解有一些事情會需要較長的時間來完成，譬如，去原諒曾經深深傷害過自己的某人。
有趣的是，當我們對天主要求事兒，或是陳述需求時，我們都希望天主馬上或至少很快，就能給我個答案；我們不會説，天主請隨意，等有時間再看看我的事兒，給我個答覆就行了。我們應該縮短回應天主召叫的時間，這樣才公平吧。
請參閲依六：1-2a，3-8；路五：1-11
Homily for 5th Sun. O.T. (C) Feb. 7, 2016 by Fr. Kimm
Everybody procrastinates, and I am just as guilty as everyone else. If you happen to visit my office in the rectory, you might notice that the couch still looks almost new despite being more than ten years old. That is because it is usually covered by so many papers that there is no room for anyone to sit. Of course, I intend to sort through all those papers someday, but I keep putting off this project.
The prophet Isaiah in our first reading does not seem to have a procrastination problem. As soon as he hears God saying, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah responds, “Here I am.” In our gospel, Peter and the brothers James and John are not procrastinators, either. Once they have brought their boats ashore, they leave everything and follow Jesus, ready to become fishers of people.
I think you and I could take a cue from Isaiah and the apostles and be quicker to respond to God’s call. While there are some actions that may rightly and understandably require more time to accomplish—for example, forgiving someone for a deeply painful wound—there are other actions that we could take with far less delay: making prayer a regular part of our daily routine; checking on an elderly neighbor down the street;
volunteering to be part of a ministry here in the parish; showing a family member that he or she is loved and appreciated.
It’s interesting that when we call upon God for something that we desire, it is always our hope that God respond immediately or at least very soon; we don’t say that an answer would be fine whenever God gets around to it. It’s only fair that we shorten our response time when God calls us.
see Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8; Luke 5:1-11