19th Sunday Ordinary Time, Rdgs and Reflection

The Readings:
August 07, 2011 ~ Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time ~ Liturgical Year A, Cycle I


First Reading: 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14
Second Reading: Romans 9:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33


These readings can be viewed at http://www.usccb.org/nab/080711.shtml



Reflection Questions


1. Describe the disciples’ reaction to Jesus walking on the water. Why do you think they were so afraid? Describe Peter’s reaction. Why didn’t Jesus just reveal His full divinity to the disciples all at once – why does He show a little bit over time?
2. Do you ever doubt that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He loves you and has control of your life? What has He done to show you that He is in control? Describe a real-life situation.
3. What excuses do you give for not spending quality time in prayer? Why do you give those excuses?


Gospel Reflection


This Sunday’s Gospel passage picks up after last week’s miraculous feeding of approximately 20,000 people. Obviously, this miracle had a big impact on the people, so Jesus found Himself surrounded by the crowds. In the midst of this immense popularity, and incredible demands on His time, Jesus takes time to get away alone by Himself to pray to His heavenly Father. This is no small side-story in this reading, for it is an important lesson to those of us who are busier than we should be: There is never an excuse to put prayer on the back-burner. Intimacy with our heavenly Father is our life-line to a happy existence. While Jesus is in prayer, the disciples find themselves on a boat in a rough storm. This event becomes an opportunity for Jesus to reveal more of His identity to the disciples. Of course, they all knew Jesus was a great guy, yet over the period of His three-year ministry, Jesus slowly unveiled to them that He was more than just a nice guy: He is the Second Person of the Trinity. The disciples see Jesus walk to them on the water. This is another reference to the supernatural identity of Jesus. He wasn’t using the latest Hollywood special effects, but was rather doing something that no one could do on their own power. To prove that this was supernatural, St. Peter begins to walk on the water as well – only to find himself sinking. (How many times in our lives do we find ourselves ‘sinking’ after we take our eyes off Jesus?) St. Peter did not have the power on his own to go beyond nature, yet our Gospel passage reinforces to us Jesus’ power over everything, including nature. The question for all of us is: Are we willing to trust in Him with even the little areas in our lives? Are we willing to allow Him to bring good to us, even if that means we go through difficult times? So often we don’t trust that Jesus will bring true good to us. We often think that we can handle it on our own, yet like St. Peter, we start to sink. We need to proclaim to Jesus with our entire lives that, ‘truly, you are the Son of God’. May God grant us the grace to trust Jesus in every situation we find ourselves, no matter how difficult the ‘storm’ of life is around us.