DAILY- HOMILY

AUGUST 7, 2011
19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A

1 Kgs 19:9, 11-13 / Ps 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14 / Rom 9:1-5 / Mt
14:22-33

1 KINGS 19:9, 11-13
When Elijah reached Horeb, the mountain of God, he came to the cave
and stayed in it. Then the word of Yahweh came to him, "What are you
doing here, Elijah?" Then Yahweh said, "Go up and stand on the mount,
waiting for Yahweh." And Yahweh passed by. There was first a
windstorm, wild wind which rent the mountains and broke the rocks into
pieces before Yahweh, but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the storm,
an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. After the
earthquake, a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire,
the murmur of a gentle breeze. When Elijah perceived it, he covered
his face with his cloak, went out and stood at the entrance of the
cave.

ROMANS 9:1-5
Brothers and sisters, I tell you sincerely in Christ, and my
conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit that I am not lying: I have
great sadness and constant anguish for the Jews. I would even desire
that I myself suffer the curse of being cut off from Christ, instead
of my brethren: I mean my own people, my kin. They are Israelites whom
God adopted, and on them rests his Glory. Theirs are the covenants,
the Law, the worship and the promises of God. They are descendants of
the Patriarchs and from their race Christ was born, he who as God is
above all distinctions. Blessed be He forever and ever: Amen!

MATTHEW 14:22-33
Immediately Jesus obliged his disciples to get into the boat and go
ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the crowd away. And
having sent the people away, he went up the mountain by himself to
pray. At nightfall, he was there alone. Meanwhile, the boat was very
far from land, dangerously rocked by the waves for the wind was
against it. At daybreak, Jesus came to them walking on the lake. When
they saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, thinking that it
was a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But at once Jesus said to
them, "Courage! Don't be afraid. It's me!" Peter answered, "Lord, if
it is you, command me to come to you walking on the water." Jesus said
to him, "Come." And Peter got out of the boat, walking on the water to
go to Jesus. But, in face of the strong wind, he was afraid and began
to sink. So he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately stretched
out his hand and took hold of him, saying, "Man of lit tle faith, why
did you doubt?" As they got into the boat, the wind dropped. Then
those in the boat bowed down before Jesus saying, "Truly, you are the
Son of God!"

REFLECTION
In the Old Testament, ever y time God manifested His presence, it was
always a saving or life-giving presence. When God revealed himself to
Abraham, in that manifestation He promised Abraham life and
prosperity. When Abraham raised his hands to slay his only son Isaac
to be offered to God, an angel of the Lord appeared to stay his hand.
Isaac's life was saved, and so was the promise of God to make Abraham
the father of many nations. When God saw the sufferings of the
descendants of Jacob and Joseph in the hands of their Egyptian
taskmasters, God appeared to Moses and chose him to lead His people
out of Egypt. And when the Egyptians pursued them while they were
crossing the Red Sea, God intervened and saved His people.

In the New Testament, the Gospel writers continue to portray God's
presence as a saving presence or life-giving presence. It was the hand
of God that fed the hungry crowd of 5,000 men through Jesus' disciples
who distributed the multiplied loaves of bread and fish. When Jesus'
disciples were over taken by a storm at sea, God again showed His life-
giving and saving hand and presence. Jesus saved his disciples who
were not only afraid of a ghost but were more afraid of the danger
facing them at sea.

In God's manifestation and in letting His saving presence be
experienced, what is required is faith. This is the key to truly
understand and experience the presence of God. In our Gospel, the
disciples did not at once recognize Jesus because fear filled their
hearts and all they saw was the peril at sea. Jesus was present but
his disciples failed to see him.

Our time, too, is a time of great danger. There is fire, there is
flood, there is earthquake — every form of danger from the randomness
of nature. But there is a danger even greater than the forces of
nature; it is the danger coming from the wrong choices of people, from
the evil in men's hearts. These too kill, these too bring destruction,
inflict suffering, hide the truth, create famine and war, create
instruments of death. Ours is a time that needs badly the saving
presence of God to allow us to live with dignity. Where there is death
and danger everywhere, all the more God's saving and life-giving
presence is needed. And if indeed ours is a time that needs saving,
then God cannot be far behind. God's saving hand will come to
intervene and bring about the much needed salvation.

But like what happened to the disciples of Christ during the storm at
sea, we might miss seeing Christ's presence in our midst. We may not
recognize the saving presence of God if we do not let go of our doubts
or when we do not see beyond ourselves the salvation that we need.

In Matthew's account of the storm at sea and Jesus' walking on the
waters, what was quite amazing was that the event happened after the
disciples witnessed Jesus per form the miracle of the multiplication
of the loaves and fish. Prior to that, the disciples witnessed Jesus
heal the centurion's servant, cure Peter's mother-in-law, even calm
the sea before when Jesus was with them in the boat sound asleep. They
witnessed him heal a paralytic, the woman with hemorrhage, and the two
blind men. They experienced his saving hand before and God showed his
goodness to them, but they acted as though this time God would fail
them. The recent memories of the Lord's past goodness were simply
drowned and forgot ten by their fear, by their lack of faith.

The Gospel is therefore a call to greater faith. We just have to have
faith that even the raging sea sleeps in the palm of God's hand. And
so, we can confidently surrender our cares to God. Only with this
faith and in surrendering our will to God will we be able to see
redemption in God's continuing presence in our life.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Jo Marcelo
- Jun Lee
- Jonathan Salazar
- Wally Torres
- Mon Torres
- Tito Torres
- Ditas dela Paz
… for the personal intentions of Frances Marie Gonzalez
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Rona Charlene O. Lao
- Birthday: Anita Pe Chongson
… for families who are in need of healing
… for world peace and reconciliation.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers
and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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