19th. Sunday In Ordinary Time

A new PP was appointed by the Bishop to a parish; but they were not ready to accept him as their new spiritual leader. Installation coincided with the parish picnic, which would take place on an island. Boats ferried people to and fro. In the afternoon PP appeared, climbed aboard one of the boats, one of parishioners said, that they had forgot the sandwiches, PP overheard this comment and knew he was being put to the test, said he would get them. He got out of the boat and walked across the water to the shore; one of the parishioners turned around in disgust to the other and said, see, I told you the Bishop would send us a PP who can’t swim. St. Frances de Sales on a visit to a farmhouse saw a little girl go to well with pale. When she filled the pale, she put a piece of wood in it, why? He asked; to keep it steady. In a letter to a friend St. Frances told him this story and said when you are in distress and agitated put Christ in the center of your life keep your eyes fixed on the goal, not like Peter who looked down and sank. Some people think that if we have enough faith, life will be all plain sailing. But this is not so. Faith doesn’t shield us from the hard knocks of life. Many times, life is an uphill battle. Constantly we are facing head winds that slow us and discourage us. Sometimes we feel as if we’re sinking – rearranging the seats on the titanic – and we begin to lose faith and hope. Life can be at times a desperate struggle. In the gospel today even Peter, the most important figure in the early church, his faith falters in the midst of a storm. Like Peter we cry out in our desperation, ‘Lord, save me’ – give us a break. The consoling message of Christ today is that no person need struggle alone. Sometimes Jesus calms the storms but most times he calms us to survive the storms. Faith doesn’t save us from trials and tribulations; It gives us strength to face them. It is not we who keep the faith. It’s the faith that keeps us. ‘A person with a grain of faith in God never loses hope’. When the wind is contrary in our lives and we are in danger of being overwhelmed by the storms of life, Jesus comes to us, not as a ghost of the past, but as the Son of God who is present with us and whose grace upholds us when things are too much for us. The message from the gospel is clear today. The boat represents the church, and the disciples represent all the believers while the storm represents the difficulties and doubts, we are facing. Like the disciples today only when we let go of fear and trust in Jesus and in his power to save us will we get through these tough times? The disciples recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread, and this highlights the importance of our community gathering every Sunday to break the bread and share the scriptures. One day we will have to leave this earthly boat that has carried us through the stormy waters of this world and set out across the dark waters of death. If at difficult moments during life we have opted for Christ then at death, it will come naturally for us to reach out and take his hand so that he may haul us onto the shores of eternity. Let us ask the Lord to strengthen our faith during these challenging times.