19th Sunday of Ordinary Time- Fr. Leo
Today’s gospel picks up where we left off last Sunday. Jesus has just fed the five thousand, not including women and children, and dismissed them to go home. Jesus sends his disciples to go to the other side of the lake where he will join them, but first he must go up the mountain, symbolic of God’s presence, to be alone and pray.
Renewed by his prayerful union with the Father in the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues and starts to cross the lake, walking on water. Meanwhile, the disciples are fearing for their lives in the storms of life. Desperate and full of fear they think Jesus is a ghost. When Jesus calls, they recognize his voice, and Peter asked to join Jesus in his rising above the churning powers of nature. At first he succeeds, but needs to be rescued. His faith isn’t ready. He too will need to learn how to commune with God in total oneness and trust.
We learn from this that Jesus’ mission, and the fulfillment of our Baptism, is rooted in our participation in the life of God. Only in solitude and prayer can we recognize the God who dwells in us and calls us to live fully in God’s spirit. Elijah, in our first reading from the First Book of Kings, does not find God in all the distractions of winds, earthquake and fire, but in the quiet whisper of God. God spoke in the silence and Elijah heard his whisper in his heart.
To live life to the full, and to do the will of God, each of us needs to have our own time of communing with God on the mountain like Jesus and Elijah. In that wordless oneness of shared being where we are in God and God is in us, God’s love transforms us so that we may see him in all things. This sight is born of faith and experienced as love. And it is living in God’s love that gives meaning and purpose to every breath we take, and every relationship we are in.
May we pray that we may hear the Spirit speaking in us to reassure our faith, and help us live in God in all things. May we come to live in Christ’s peace in the midst of all the storms that cause us fear; to hear his whisperings in our heart. May God’s peace bless you who is the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.