Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus asks each one of us to trust in Him and to step out in faith. In this Gospel reading we see Jesus going up to the mountain to pray while the disciples were off in a boat. During the night there was a storm and the boat that the disciples were in was being tossed around but then they see Jesus walking on water. At first, they thought it was a ghost until Jesus calls Peter out of the boat. Now Peter, a loyal, trusting disciple of Jesus, stepped out of the boat and started walking on water toward Jesus. As soon as he shifted his gaze to the waves and started to doubt, however, he started to sink and was afraid he might drown.
I remember a time I had an experience like this. I was sitting in Church, rather confused and consumed by my thoughts, and my heart cried out to God, “what do you want me to do? I felt so overwhelmed and anxious about making the right choice in a particular situation. My soul felt like it was “drowning” in a way. As I sat there with tears streaming down my face I prayed to God to show me the way, “Lord, please give me a sign as to which direction you want me to take,” and all of a sudden, I felt like I needed to open my Bible. As I was getting my Bible out of my backpack it fell on the ground and it opened to this same passage of Jesus calling Peter out of the boat. As Peter started to drown Jesus came up to him and pulled him out and said, “Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?” I could not believe my eyes because this passage spoke straight into how I was feeling and what I was going through during that time in my life. I really felt like Peter, where during my discernment journey, I stepped out in faith and was doing really well but as soon as I started to doubt I felt like I was drowning just like Peter. And I knew Jesus was questioning me; why I was doubting Him? And as I sat there contemplating those words an overwhelming sense of peace just flooded my heart. I knew that in His timing He will let me know what path He will want me to take in my life.
How many times have we stepped out in faith, but as soon as we took our eyes off Jesus, or started to doubt Him, we started to drown? In those moments we let fear win, but Jesus in his love and mercy comes towards us to help us, and restore our faith in Him. He knows that sometimes no matter how strong we are we will fall into doubt and fear, but this Gospel proves to us that He will always be there to reach out a hand and help us through whatever storm we are going through in life.
So, in this upcoming week I ENCOURAGE YOU TO STEP OUT IN FAITH, and keep your eyes on Jesus. As we walk out into the unknown, especially during this time in our world, where things are constantly happening that are outside of our control, know that it is okay because Jesus is Lord over all. Just like He commanded the winds and waves to die down, so He can command any obstacle or hardship that we face. Our hope is that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. He will always walk this faith journey with us no matter how difficult it may seem, “for even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for I know that my God is with me.” This is a promise God makes with each one of us, so let us stand strong in faith and prayer.