Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This
is one of those Gospel passages we’ve heard a lot in our life if we’ve been
going to church every Sunday. We
probably heard it as children as our parents read the Bible to us or told us
Bible stories. Perhaps it’s so
familiar to us that we don’t even really think about it any more, or go
deeper. But the point of
repetition is so that we don’t just stay at the surface level, especially when
it comes to the Scriptures and the Liturgy. When we’ve heard a story over and over again, we’re not supposed
to think: that’s boring! We’re
supposed to think: I know what the main story is, now what more is there to
this that I haven’t found?
I’d
like to propose that St. Peter, who is often the “bad guy” in this story for
his lack of faith, be reconsidered.
Certainly, we cannot change Jesus’ words that do mourn Peter’s lack of
faith as he is sinking amid the waves.
But, where, we can ask, were the other eleven apostles? St. Peter was at least bold enough to
start out on the waters at Jesus’ command. The others, at least from the text, never even considered
going to Jesus, but just stayed in the boat as the wind and waves crashed
around them.
If
anything, we should applaud the fact that St. Peter was willing, at his own
suggestion, to walk on water like Jesus.
It was Peter who said that if that specter on the horizon was Jesus, to
command him to walk on water. St.
Peter showed a deep faith at first, trusting that Jesus, His Master, and His
Lord, would not let him sink.
Instead, we tend to focus on that one line, “‘O you of little faith, why
did you doubt?’”
But
where was the faith of the eleven other apostles? Where were their bold acts of rushing towards Jesus? But, lest self-righteous indignation
start to creep in, whether at the lack of faith of St. Peter or the lack of
faith of the other eleven, we then have to turn back to ourselves and consider:
where are our bold acts? When was
the last time we rushed to the Lord?
Besides
maybe breaking local speed laws to get to church on time, when was the last
time we rushed to see Jesus? When
was the last time we went out on the waters, though the wind was strong and the
waves were around us, to be close to Jesus? For the ancient people, especially the Jews, water was a
sign of life, but it was also a sign of chaos and death and destruction. At the beginning, God has to order the
waters of chaos. Water is what
kills the evil generation in the days of Noah. Water just as likely killed as give life. And yet, Jesus is out there, with no
fear of the chaos, and, in fact, standing over it, with the waters of chaos
under the dominion of His feet.
And it is over those waters of chaos that Peter goes out to Jesus.
We
are sometimes afraid to go to meet Jesus because of the chaos that surrounds
our life. Our fear to run to Jesus
is related to whether or not we know Jesus. St. Peter loved Jesus, and was willing to do anything for
Him, because Peter had spent months and years following Him. How much time do we spend with
Jesus? Do we know how to recognize
His presence?
In
our first reading, the ways that Elijah does not experience God are classical
ways that God reveals Himself, what we call a theophany. In the Old Testament, God frequently
reveals Himself in a strong wind, in an earthquake, in a fire. But this time, with Elijah, God only
reveals Himself in the silence.
And this presence of God is so powerful that Elijah has to hide his face
in his cloak.
God
still reveals Himself in many ways: in the poor; in those who mourn; in a
beautiful Mass; in a stunning sunset; and the list goes on and on. But God often reveals Himself in
silence. And we are not a society
that likes silence. I certainly
include myself in that last statement.
I love to have my iTunes playing on my phone, or the radio on in my car,
or the TV on, even if just for background noise. It takes effort for me to have silence, even though I try to
get at least a good 45 minutes per day of silent prayer with God. Silence is difficult sometimes. Sometimes silence is scary, because in
the silence, we can actually hear God speak. And if we are afraid of what God will say, it’s easier to
flood our world with noise. I try
to provide some silence here in Mass: purposeful silence, not just waiting for
the next thing to start. But we
need more than what we can get in the Mass. We need time to be alone with God. We need time to encounter God in a real way. One easy way is by spending time with
Jesus in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Tuesday evening form 5:45-7
p.m. Jesus is there. All we have to do is come by and
visit.
Another
great way to be alone with God is through a retreat. In our diocese we are trying to reinvigorate the Cursillo
retreat, a time where we get to know God and know ourselves better, and have a
personal encounter with God. We
all need a personal encounter with God.
We all need to have a time in our life that we can say that we met
Jesus. If not, our faith will grow
weaker, and we will not be convincing witnesses to Jesus. You cannot give what you don’t have. If we don’t have Jesus, we cannot give
Him to others. Whether it’s
Cursillo, or any other Catholic retreat, we need to encounter Jesus. Only then will we have the courage to
get out of the boat like Peter and rush to Jesus. I know we’re all busy.
But this is important. In
the coming years, it looks more and more like our faith will be tested in public. If we don’t have a personal encounter
with Jesus, we will deny Him by our words and deeds. If you knew your eternal salvation depended on a time with
Jesus, would you take it? Because
our eternal salvation does rely on personally knowing Jesus, not just knowing
about Him. Retreats are perfect
times to encounter Jesus. Our
times of Adoration on Tuesday nights are perfect times to encounter Jesus. May our faith be strong enough to jump
out of the apparent safety of the boat of our lives and rush to Jesus, even
walking on water to get to Him, knowing that He will not let us drown.