19the Sunday Ordinary Time
The gospel reading this weekend is all about Jesus walking on water but if you look beyond the walking on water this story is really about the trust all of us have in God. We have no problem identifying with Peter he is so like ourselves . He is confident one moment and then, when things get difficult and he has bitten off more than he can chew, he falls apart. By then it is too late and he needs help. Life is like that, we start at something like a new job, college, marriage, or a project to help others, but then it gets complex and beyond what we are capable of. We didn’t realize it was going to require so much time and effort and maybe we didn’t call out for help from other people or from God when we were sinking or drowning. Not an uncommon experience in so many situations of life and in the way we deal with them.
God doesn’t always give us an immediate cure or a fast solution when we bring ourselves in prayer for others as well as ourselves. Jesus shows us that our father in heaven is not distant from our problems when he reaches out a hand to Peter and to us he is our companion who makes the journey of life with us especially during the storms that life brings. At times we may well be floundering, like Peter, but Jesus reaches out to help us, to rescue us. What better image of salvation could there be than Jesus reaching out to Peter to save him from drowning. What better analogy could there be of our own lives and relationship with Jesus. We live messy lives, we doubt and we lack faith but nevertheless we are still moving towards the Lord and our heavenly homeland For us there is a lesson in this particular incident. It is that we must continue to trust in Christ and his loving Father, even when God seems to have deserted us.
Most of the troubles and trials of our lives are caused by the injustice and lack of charity of our fellowmen. The remainder can be attributed to our own weakness in so many things. But God foresees all these misfortunes, and he lets them take their course, because they can and should be the means of showing us life’s true meaning and they should draw us closer to god. Christ knew the storm was coming and the risk the Apostles would run when He sent them across the lake. But that trial and the grave danger was for their own good, because they learned that Jesus was from God and they could always trust Him. Our trials and our earthly ailments are also foreseen by God and permitted by him so that they will draw us closer to Him and help us on the road to heaven. May we like Peter reach out to Jesus and ask him save us as we put our trust in you for you are the son of God.
Fullerton T 