19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Matthew 14:22-33

The Storms of Life

The Sea of Galilee

It has been a very stormy summer.  Devastating wild fires in Hawaii fueled by hurricane winds!  Massive rain and flooding in the South and East!  More wild fires in Canada!  And the resulting clouds of soot and ash throughout the US causing people to shelter inside to avoid the unhealthy air!  Temperatures well over 100 degrees lasting for a week or more throughout the South and Southwest!  When will it end?  Storms wherever we turn!  How do we handle such destruction, such heartache and loss of hope!

My mom’s answer was and continues to be – the Rosary!  As a child, we would often pray it as a family.  I can remember riding in the car and we would run into the middle of a snowstorm or a torrential rain.  It was only then that my mom would whip out the rosary and have us all pray together.  Or when we were at home during a terrible thunderstorm, lightning, noise, rattling of the windows and shaking of the house, and then the lights went out.  And then we would pray the rosary.  Good times, right?!  A reminder of dark times, of storms and threatening weather!

And that’s what we hear in today’s Gospel – a storm on the Sea of Galilee.  I can remember the first time I visited the Holy Land, the first time I took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. It was a calm, sunny day and the water was like glass.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  But our guide reminded us that all of that could change in a matter of minutes.  That’s how short a time it would take for a storm to suddenly spring up and change the moment into a stomach-churning rollercoaster experience.  And that is what happens in today’s Gospel.

It’s about 4 in the morning and the storm hits with the Apostles in a small boat tossed about by the waves, fighting against a strong wind, and all of this in the darkness.

And yet I can’t help wondering – what was Peter thinking?  Why in the world did he jump out of the boat?  He is a fisherman by trade; he’s been fishing all his life on the Sea of Galilee.  He is used to fishing in the dark; he is used to dealing with storms and high winds!  What the heck was he thinking?  Jumping out of the boat in the dark in the middle of a storm is the last thing any experienced fisherman would ever do!  I mean, it’s not like you can out-swim or escape the storm!

We already know that Peter can sometimes be bold, impulsive, rash!  He rushes into words and actions without thinking and only considers what he’s doing afterwards!  Peter who when Jesus says “come follow me”, drops everything – his boat, his friends, his family = and immediately follows Jesus.  Peter who, when Jesus tries to wash his feet at the Last Supper, says No and then says ok wash everything.  Peter who insists I will never deny you and then goes and denies Jesus 3 times.

But maybe what he was doing was not as impulsive as we think, maybe he wasn’t trying to get away from the storm but to get TO Jesus!!  In the middle of the storm, battered by the wind and the waves, fearful for his life, all he wanted was to be near Jesus!

Isn’t that what we all do – when a storm or one of life’s difficulties smacks us in the face, don’t we all tend to hunker down, gather together in prayer and ask for safe passage through the storm.  Whenever we are battered by the storms of life, don’t we all seek shelter, don’t we all shelter in place, don’t we all call out to Jesus in prayer, ask for His help, His protection from the storm.  Don’t we all cry out to Him like Peter – Save me, Lord! 

On that first trip to the Holy Land 13 years ago, I bought myself a rosary, the same one I am holding in my hand right now. It is now in pieces, worn out over the years from use and the storms of life, I guess.  When we returned to Israel this past January, I bought a new rosary.  It is probably the heaviest rosary I have ever held.  Maybe that’s why I got it – to remind me of those times in life when we feel weighed down by the cares of the world, of our family and loved ones.  Maybe it’s to remind me to hold on to something solid, something to anchor me to my faith, something to calm my fears! 

Maybe it’s a gentle reminder of my Mom, pulling out the rosary when the storm hits, when the lightning crackles!  All she wanted was for us to join together, be close to God, to pray to Him, to ask for help in the midst of fear.  My goodness, I think I just admitted my mom was right!!

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 13, 2023 at 9:19 AM

    Thank you Deacon for your Homily and shareing your life examples Every day I pray to our dear Lord but especially to more yo him when something is wrong like my husbands foot with gangren and
    No pulses to let tests be good and let the surgery the 21 st or before take away the problem make the blood flow freely the color clear up the pain subside I feel Peter was not so afraid of drowning when he jumped from the fishing. Boat that day but was trying to get to Jesus He knew Jesus would save him Thank you for todays Homily Deacon Frere Yours in Christ Robyn Paradis

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Sunday – 13 th Sunday in Ordinary Time   revisited Gospel – Matthew 10:37-42 The Cost/Rewards of Discipleship Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem I’m holding in my hand a simple piece of paper, barely bigger than an index card.   It’s a mini-golf scorecard and it’s 47 years old.   At the time, the game itself probably cost only about $6.   Certainly a lot less than you would pay today.   So the cost today doesn’t seem like much.   But for me all that time ago, it was a wealth of money.   So it cost me a lot.   But the rewards of the card?   Well, that is priceless.   This was one of the first dates Ginger and I went on.   And who would have guessed how that would turn out?   All the memories we have shared, painful and joyful.   All the times we have shared together and the people who have touched our lives!   Priceless! Cost and reward!   Two vastly different concepts but they play a key role in all of today’s readings.   In the first reading, a rich woman goes out of her way t
Read more
Image
  14 th Sunday in Ordinary Time   revisited Gospel – Matthew 11:25-30 The “Little Ones” Open Market, Jerusalem There’s a story about a rather eccentric teacher who was always looking for creative ways to test (torture) his students.   Sometimes it was crazy project and sometimes it was a wacky exam that tested not just their knowledge but also their experience. So one day he hands out a test, typical normal test, Q/A, except this was the last question.   What’s the name of the school janitor?   One of his students looked at the question and thought – I know he’s short, wears glasses and has light brown hair but how in the world would I know his name?   So he left it blank and turned in his paper. When class was over, he went up to the teacher and asked whether that last question would count in the test grade.   Absolutely, said the teacher.   Throughout your whole life, you will find that every person you cross paths with is important, significant.   They deserve you
Read more
Image
  16 th Sunday in Ordinary Time   revisited Gospel – Matthew 13:24-30 Be Patient, My Child Tied Up in Knots! Many years ago, I remember one summer when it was time for our daughter Jaime to learn how to ride a bicycle.   So I took off the training wheels, she climbed onto the bike and proceeded to take off.   I followed close behind, holding onto the back bumper, trying to keep the bike upright and trying to make sure she didn’t fall.   It was exhausting for both of us.   I thought I was being a good dad by doing everything I could to keep her from falling.   But it didn’t work.   We were both getting frustrated.   Finally, she had had enough and she banished me to sit on the front porch while she worked it out on her own.   It took time and it took a lot of patience, something neither one of us had much of at the start of the process. I was getting impatient with the process and she was getting impatient with me.   Patience was in short supply.   But in the end, patience w
Read more