August 10, 2014

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

1 Kings 19:9, 11-13; Romans 9: 1-5; Matthew 14:22-33
How many times have I jumped without looking? How many times have I not looked at the ramifications of my actions? How many times have I set out in a ‘leap of faith’ and have the Lord totally rescue me? How many times have I decided that “I can do this” and not even felt compelled to ask the Lord for help? How many times do I have such an inflated view of myself that I end up rejecting God’s grace and, as a result, people are blocked from seeing God? How many times have I found myself in deep water and even found the need to cry out, “Lord save me?.” How many times was I just too proud to ask for help and fail to realize that God’s care and love is always present?
So I look at the readings to seek deeper the need I have of the Lord and the Lord’s total unconditional love for me. God loves me that much and God loves each person that much. Elijah received the message in the first reading to “Go outside and stand on the mountain; the Lord will be passing by.” How many times do I ask God for help and I have a ‘good idea’ of exactly how God will answer? How often do I even suggest some positive ways that He should do this? Elijah expected to ‘see’ God in a spectacular way…in the wind, or an earthquake or in fire, perhaps a volcanic eruption. But God had different plans; He appeared in a little soft breeze.
I complain…people complain. A look in the newspaper will show the number of places where terrible calamities happen…and the immediate reaction is ‘why did God allow this to happen?’ I get so absorbed in this that I fail to notice the enormous heroic response of people giving their time and huge efforts to pitch in and help. This coupled with the generous donors and helpful governments who are contributing to relieve the suffering and restore what was lost. Do I thank God for giving these people the grace to be aware and respond? It seems I concentrate more on God being absent instead of seeing how He is present.
Paul’s letter to the Romans continues to give lessons on how one is to live as a Christian in the world today. Today he is tremendously upset because the people were not putting their faith and trust in Jesus. They were refusing to accept Jesus as the Christ…they wanted their own plan for salvation and thus rejected God’s eternal plan. Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings explains it succinctly: “…Paul suffers for the true believers of his Jewish community who cannot find their way to embrace the place of Jesus in their sacred story. They’re not bad people. They just don’t see how this crucified Galilean fits into the picture of what God’s been doing all along for Israel. For many in Paul’s community, Christianity doesn’t add up. They haven’t had the experience of miracles, resurrections, and visions to bring them along. All they have is a meager rational process that tells them the Jesus piece doesn’t belong to their puzzle. Like Paul, we can pray that the next God crossing will be decisive in bringing our loved ones to faith. The rest is in God’s hands, which is always a good place to be.” I look at my own life and see how much I interfere in God’s plan by inserting ‘the almighty me’ into the syllogism.
I see that this happened with Peter in the Gospel: how confident he was in jumping out of the boat and ‘walking’ on the water. What was going on in his head? Did he think that this was just a simple ‘task’ to perform? Was he thinking that he would be impressing Jesus or the others? More than likely, he didn’t think…he just acted in his ‘normal impulsive’ way. He got out of the boat and attempted the impossible. So many lessons follow: as long as Peter keeps his eyes fixed on the Lord, he has no problem. Then ‘IT’ happened…maybe ‘it’ was the wind or the waves or whatever, fear set in and he began to sink. It leads me to ask, what am I afraid of? Jesus immediately reached out His hand not only to support Peter but to save him. He strengthened Peter’s faith. I’m sure Peter delivered many a sermon on how God always reaches out to help…but do I allow God to help me, to be God to me? More often than not I say ‘no’. Why? Perhaps it’s because of my fears…do I want to stay in my fears? Do I feel maybe that there are some things God isn’t able to do or doesn’t want to do for me? Faith Catholic explains it this way: “We need to be honest with ourselves about the fears of our lives. Some people share similar fears – losses, suffering and helplessness. But there are many other types of fear – the effects of age, debilitating diseases, depression, doubts, being able to make a living, keeping our children safe, the future and, on of the biggest fears of all, death. So much of our fear is wrapped up in the unknown.” And do I realize that God is always with me? Do I realize that God is so ‘crazy in love with me’ that He want to save me from my most violent fears?
Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings says: “In the midst of our darkest hour of fear, Jesus invites us to faith. Just when we’re shuddering and our teeth are chattering with terror, Jesus asks us to get out of the boat. This isn’t really about faith, but about the strength of our relationship with Him. If we walk toward Him in the worst of times, do we trust He’ll reach out His hand?”
William Paul Young, the author of The Shack has a scene where the main character, Mack, is having an encounter with Jesus and asks “…so why do I have so much fear in my life? Jesus responds, ‘Because you don’t believe. You don’t know that We love you. The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in My love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it; you talk about I, but you don’t know it.” I am on a journey to the Lord…each person is on a journey to the Lord. Since God initiated this journey by creating me and loving me every inch of the way, I must continually go to God and ask, seek, knock…and He will respond. So I reflect on:

• Do I continually turn to God for all that I need?
  
• Do I admit that God is the source of all that I have?
  
• Am I satisfied with having my needs filled or do I want more?
  
• Do I reflect on the difference between my wants and my needs?
  
• Does the Eucharist sustain me?
  

Sacred Space 2014 helps today:
“Time apart at prayer did not close Jesus to the world but inspired Him to go to the help of the troubled disciples. The time that I spend at prayer builds me up in my relationship with God and strengthens me to act in God’s name.

Peter had courage when his eyes were on Jesus, but Peter foundered when he focused on himself and his situation. I ask God to help me keep Jesus before me.”