Meditation on the Sunday Gospel - Mt 14:22-33
The situation seems familiar to us ... Isn't this boat in the dark - torn by wind and waves a picture of the life of each of us? Are we not going to the other side in the boat of our lives on the stormy sea of this world?
For a long time, the journey is smooth. For years our faith is simple, strong, steadfast. But faith is not the guarantee of an easy life - without storms and high waves. It does not provide us with a permanent place on a luxury ship.
We, unstable, sit like the disciples in the miserable fishing boat that miraculously resists the storms.
Don't doubts arise in us when we are hit by an incurable disease, we are overwhelmed by old age, loneliness, lurking death ...? Do we not then feel that the Lord has abandoned us? Our faith is fragile. There is always a danger that we will give up in difficult times. We are then drowning in our worries and doubts, and there is less and less hope for God's help.
It is understandable that Peter began to sink just as he realized what he was going to face. However, there, where he had nothing to hold on to, cried out with great confidence: "Lord, save me!" And the Lord stretched out his hand to save him from drowning. But he, on whose faith the Church was to lean, heard the reproach: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt? "
Faith is not something what you just have, nor what you get once and forever. To believe is to walk on the waves. You have to risk your faith, you have to constantly dare to faith - just like walking on the water. The believer gives up all safeguards, relies entirely on the Lord. It cannot be done halfway, with little faith, but only with all your heart, with full trust.
We have learned to rely only on our own strength or insurance policies, on what can be captured or calculated. Who knows, maybe our faith is so fragile that we are afraid of losing ground under our feet. But let's look at Peter: he began to sink as he took his eyes off the Lord and looked at himself. This means that as long as we look at the Lord and trust Him unconditionally, we are safe. Then our faith carries us.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george