Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today' s Mass Readings "

The gospel passage for today’s liturgy is very vivid. It tells us that the disciples cried out in fear thinking they were seeing a ghost. They, like any of us would be, were genuinely afraid. This is the scripture’s way of saying that fear is real. Was Jesus ever afraid? My own answer is, “Yes, Of course.” If Jesus never experienced fear then I would hesitate to call him truly human. For example, before his arrest and eventual death, he said to his disciples that he soul was troubled. We also know that in his prayer at that moment he sweat blood. That is pretty intense fear. However, he fear ends with the words, “Not my will but thine be done.” Again, on the cross, he has another fear. He wonders if even God abandoned him. This time the blood that he saw was from real wounds inflicted on him. But his fear ends in the words “Into your hands I commend my spirit.”

The point I am trying to make is that unfortunately there is no medicine for fear. At the same time giving into fear can lead to despair. The only anti-dote to fear is faith. Jesus dealt with fear by faith.
How do we define faith in this context? Faith is keeping our eyes focused on Jesus no matter what our fears just as Jesus kept his eyes focused on God in spite of his fears. Jesus blames Peter’s little faith for his drowning.

How can we develop such faith? Through prayer. Today's gospel passage begins with Jesus spending time with God in prayer (Mt 14: 23). No wonder then that when storms hit his life he was able to face them with faith. I can say this with some certainty, that if we are serious about our relationship with God, prayer is a daily necessity. Prayer is our spiritual breath. If we do not find time for God each day in some way of another we will spiritually die. The storms will kill us. We will give into despair. Like Jesus it is important that we find time to be alone with God.

- Fr. Satish Joseph