Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s readings, two themes jump out at me; being called, and encountering and dealing with distractions from our calling. In today’s first reading, we see Elijah being called to “go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” Standing on the mountain, he experiences many things; a strong wind, an earthquake, and fire but these grand and impressive things did not represent the LORD’s presence, but in the tiny whispering sound, Elijah recognized the LORD and hid his face in his cloak and went out to meet him. In this we see that the LORD doesn’t always come to us as we expect. We must truly listen and wait for the LORD and be ready when he comes in the unexpected ways and then we must go out to meet him.
In the Gospel today, we see the disciples left in the boat being tossed about by waves. Then they see Jesus walking on the sea, which terrifies them because they thought they saw a ghost. Jesus reassures them saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Jesus often reassures us in our times of fear; he calls out to us and tells us to have courage for he is with us. Are we then bold enough to ask Jesus to have us come out into the storm and walk on the water like Peter did? So, Peter steps out of the boat and takes his first steps on the water, keeping his eyes on Jesus. But, as he begins to take his eyes off of Jesus and sees the strong winds, he doubts and starts to sink. Often we are given the grace to come to Jesus on the water, but we become distracted by the many different strong winds in our lives—personal and persistent sins, the world around us, or pride—we lose sight of Jesus and begin to sink. We must then, like Peter, cry out to Jesus who will save us from perishing. It is true that he will say to us, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?,” and we can reply, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)
Reflection by Br. Placid Dale, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections