19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 9, 2020

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Gospel: Matthew 14:22–33

Theme: Jesus will never abandon us, especially in stormy times.

Matthew 14:22–33

Then he made the disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.

During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear. At once [Jesus] spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how [strong] the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.”

Music Meditations

Companions for the Journey

From a homily delivered at CC@S Mass in 2008:

It is always helpful to locate the scripture passage into the greater story that the evangelist has woven. Today’s incident immediately follows the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. If I were one of the disciples I would have felt that I was so fortunate to have found this miracle worker who could cure the sick and take care of the hungry. Here is somebody I can rely on. Sometimes religion sounds like it is making similar offers; that it can help us stay on the right side of God and get us out of any predicament in which we find ourselves. If you’ve “got religion” and do things “properly” you’ve got protection and life ought to work out for you. (adapted from Jude Siciliano: FI 19 SUNDAY 2005). Well, my friends, this story should disabuse you of that notion. Look at the disciples in today’s story. They get into the boat on Lake Galilee as he tells them to, and they get in without Jesus, as he tells them to. Now the Sea of Galilee, 700 feet below sea level, was and still is known for its violent storms, causing many to drown in its waters. These storms can come up suddenly, with cool air from the surrounding hills or the Golan Heights colliding violently with the warm air near the surface of the water, creating enormous waves and howling winds.

Imagine the disciples’ consternation when their certainty of safety is shattered by this vicious and dangerous storm. Don’t you think the disciples wonder if Jesus has absconded, taking God with him? Jesus is off on a mountain somewhere, and here they are struggling with the wind and the waves. By the time Jesus shows up, it is dawn. That is an awful lot of hours of being tossed and buffeted with no let-up. (I’ll just bet they didn’t hear the still small voice of God in the winds out there on the lake that day, either.) I can almost feel their panic as they struggle just to hang on and keep the boat afloat, wondering if the howling will stop and the waves will ever get calm again. I am sure they feel that they might die out there, as others have in the past.

Have you ever felt that this incident might be a metaphor for certain times in your life? What are the storms in your religious or personal life? Ever felt adrift and at sea? Ever felt that you have been left by your own stony lonesome to work things out?

The story speaks immediately to our lives; if not today, then yesterday; if not yesterday, then tomorrow. (ibid) It reminds me of another similar incident in which Jesus was with the disciples, but asleep in the boat while the storm raged on. Finally, in fear and desperation, they woke him up saying: “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” We, in a similar vein, might ask: “Don’t you see what I am trying to cope with here? What took you so long to let me know you were paying attention?”

There is always the danger here that we are looking to Jesus to mend all that is wrong in our lives. To solve our problems for us.

Not gonna happen. Peter walked on a stormy sea, not one that had been made calm by Jesus. It is no wonder that he faltered as he began to doubt his own trust in Jesus. But Jesus understood Peter’s fear and doubt, just as I believe he understands ours. “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” is not so much a criticism as it is the kind of comfort a parent gives a lost and frightened child: “Why are you so worried? Don’t you realize that I am in charge?

Our faith (that is, our trust) always needs bolstering when we are in the midst of changes or turmoil, or sorrow. But how hard that is, when the voices around us are calling for us to do something, to make our own problems disappear, to mend their lives, or simply just stop whining. This is when we realize that faith is not something we possess, it is a conscious choice. It is something we live. One day at a time. One storm at a time.

Faith is a refusal to let despair overwhelm us. Faith is the ability to look into the unknown and believe that God will be there with us, no matter what. To quote Julian of Norwich: Just so, [Our Lord] said in the last words with perfect fidelity, alluding to us all: You will not be overcome. He did not say: You will not be troubled, you will not be belabored, you will not be disquieted; but he said: You will not be overcome.

And so, when we believe the kingdom has come despite evidence to the contrary, we have faith. When we are tossed on the seas of life in fear and trembling, and make a conscious decision to believe, to trust that we are not alone, we have faith. When we rejoice in the beauty of the world and the opportunities and talents we have been given as gifts by the God who loves us, we have faith. When we realize that those gifts are not ours alone, but have been given to us for the betterment of the kingdom, then we have faith.

We live our faith by trusting in God’s innate goodness and in our own ability to respond to that goodness. We live our faith by living out the possibilities the Spirit has placed before us, step by step. We live our faith by responding to others who need our hope and care. We live our faith when we open our hearts to hear the answers God sends us to questions we haven’t even asked. And we live out that faith when we fail to trust and beg Jesus to haul us back in the boat, and later on, try again.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • From “First Impressions” 2020:
    Do we feel like those disciples, victims in the pandemic storm’s clutches?
    Do we look into the midst of the storm and wonder if Jesus is just a ghost, a product of our fear-driven imagination?
    Can we hear him say to us what he said to his frightened disciples, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.”
  • What were some moments in your life when you encountered stormy seas, felt adrift or separated from Jesus? How did you handle this?
  • When you are troubled or anxious, how do you talk to God? What prayers do you say?
  • Has there ever been a time in your life where you had to work through fear to arrive at trust in your life? How did you do this?
  • What gives you courage?
  • Someone commented that Peter began to falter when he took his focus of Jesus and focus on himself. Do you agree with this assessment?
  • We criticize Peter for his “lack of faith”. Should we not notice that Peter was wise enough to ask for help when he needed it? Should we not be paying attention to the startling fact that Jesus didn’t refuse to help Peter because of Peter’s failure to trust?
  • Do you read this gospel as a warning that God will put our faith to the test, just so we can be graded on how well we did?
  • Do you read this gospel as a scathing indictment of those who do not trust God enough?
  • What, actually, does this gospel tell you about God?
  • Where has our fear overcome our basic faith in the goodness of God, our faith in the eventual well-being of the world, our faith in the care and concern of Jesus? How did we handle it?
  • From a Benedictine website featuring Lectio divina:
    Has there been a contrary wind in your life? What have you done to overcome it?
    Has this happened sometimes in your community? How was it overcome?
    Which is the particular crossing that communities are doing today? From what to what or where to where?
    How does all of this help us to recognize today the presence of Jesus in the contrary waves of life?
  • Was Jesus praying for the disciples during the storm. Do you think?
    Would some of our “storms” be more manageable if we turned to prayer?
  • Is there someone you know experiencing a stormy time in his/her life to whom you can say “I am with you”?

Meditations

A Meditation on the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

(story from “First Impressions”)
Well, I knew a man in his mid-fifties who did things very well. A good man, he was a frequent church goer, excellent husband and family man. He was sincere in his religious practices and generous with his time for the needy. This very special man got cancer, fought a painful battle with it and a year later died. Didn’t he say the right prayers? What about the prayers we said for his healing? What more could we have done? Where was Jesus in his and our storm? We know lots of people with similar stories. When things turn out poorly for us or someone we love, we wonder what happened. We may even blame ourselves for not praying correctly or enough. Didn’t we follow the directions, say the right prayers, have the proper attitude, get enough people to pray with us? Do we secretly believe that if our prayers are not answered the way we want, it is because we didn’t pray correctly, or were otherwise deserving of the bad things that happen to us?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Meditation on the Lord’s Prayer:
Do I trust that God is my father, and the father of all of us? Do I believe that heaven exists because God is there? Is God’s name holy to me? Do I really trust that God will give me whatever of this world’s goods I need, or do I worry a lot about money, possessions, security? Do I believe that God forgives me? Do I forgive those who have hurt me, or do I still carry old resentments and pain into my relationships? Do I believe that God would never ‘tempt’ me to sin and thus lose eternal life, or do I believe that God sets traps for me so that I must constantly prove my love? Do I believe that my God, my Father/Mother, will deliver me from evil, that God, my Father/Mother, is my strength and my salvation?
And finally, I recite the Lord’s Prayer, praying each phrase as an affirmation of my trust in the Lord, rather than as a series of petitions.

A Meditation in the Augustinan Style/Relationship:

Rework Psalm 62, addressing God in the second person. How does this psalm help you to understand God's care for you?

2In God alone is my soul at rest; (In you alone is my soul at rest)
my salvation comes from him. (my salvation comes from you)
3He alone is my rock, my salvation,
my fortress; never shall I falter.
4How long will you all attack one man (How long will they all attack one man)
to break him down,
as though he were a tottering wall,
or a tumbling fence?
5Their plan is only to bring down;
they take pleasure in lies.
With their mouth they utter blessing,
but in their heart they curse.
6In God alone be at rest, my soul,
for my hope is from him.
7He alone is my rock, my salvation,
my fortress; never shall I falter.
8In God is my salvation and glory,
my rock of strength;
in God is my refuge.
9Trust him at all times, O people.
Pour out your hearts before him,
for God is our refuge.
10The sons of men are a breath,
an illusion, the sons of men.
Placed in the scales, they rise;
they all weigh less than a breath.
11Do not put your trust in oppression,
nor vain hopes on plunder.
Even if riches increase,
set not your heart on them.
12For God has said only one thing;
only two have I heard:
that to God alone belongs power,
13and to you, Lord, merciful love;
and that you repay each man
according to his deeds.
Poetic Reflection:

Read Thomas Merton’s famous “Prayer” which speaks to the kind of faith I am talking about: How does this poem reflect the poet’s utter trust in God and in God’s care for us?

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.