19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 19:9, 11-13 Romans 9:1-5 Matthew 14:22-33
Chapter 14 of Saint Matthew’s begins with the martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist. When Jesus hears of the death of his cousin he went in a boat alone to a ‘desolate’ place to mourn and pray. But the crowds learned of his whereabouts and followed him. It seemed that he could never manage to be alone. But he was full of compassion for anyone who sought him and he responded to them by feeding them, all 5000 of them! After this extraordinary event Jesus attempted to be alone again – he sent his close disciples off in a boat and dismissed the crowds.
What Matthew describes next could be taken as an image of the Church. The disciples are in a boat and trying to cope with stormy waters. Yes, the Church as we know it is constantly dealing with stormy issues. We think that we can deal with all the difficulties most of the time. Very often we don’t even notice our mistakes and troubles, not to mention how often the Lord rescues us from disaster. The disciples in the boat didn’t seem to notice that they were in danger until Jesus came to rescue them, and even then they were slow to recognise him.
Peter was brave in addressing the Lord and offering to come to the Lord to prove his Faith. Wouldn’t we all like to have such trust and courage – and perhaps we do. But when things begin to get really difficult, like Peter, we begin to sink. We would like greater assurance and a more reliable sign of the Lord’s presence. Elijah (1st Reading today) was given instructions to look out for the Lord on the top of Mount Horeb. Of course, he looked for the Lord in all the wrong places. The ‘mighty wind’ and the ‘earthquake’ and the ‘fire’ would surely be places to find God! But no, it was in the sound of a ‘Gentle Breeze’. Peter’s call from the Lord, in the middle of a storm was dramatic. Saint Paul was knocked off his horse with a bolt of lightning, to make sure that he got the message and that was dramatic. But more often it is in the ordinary, simple, uneventful moments in our lives that the Lord speaks.
During the past week (9th August) we celebrated the Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (St Edith Stein). Edith Stein was raised a Jew and in her late teens abandoned her Faith and ceased praying. But she was a woman who was alert to everything that happened around her. She interpreted truthfully the coincidences (God-incidents?) of daily living. One day while visiting Frankfurt she noticed an ordinary woman with her shopping bag going into the Cathedral and kneeling to pray. Such a simple event! She wrote “This was something totally new to me. In synagogues and Protestant churches people went for services only. Here someone was going as if to have an intimate conversation. This was something I never forgot.” Later she was struck by the simple Faith of a friend of hers who had been widowed. Then she read the Life of Saint Teresa. God was reaching into her life by simple means.Responding to what we perceive as God’s word to us is not always easy. It requires us to jump out of the boat, our comfort zones, our habits and traditions, like Peter did, and put complete trust in God.We are given great assurances from the Scriptures today. Even when it seems that Jesus is at prayer with the Father he notices our needs – even before we know them ourselves.