19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Cassie

Jesus’ walking on the water is not simply a demonstration of His miraculous power.  It is more basically an explanation of who Jesus is.  Jesus does what God does.  Jesus speaks of Himself in the same way God speaks of Himself: Jesus proclaims, “It is I, “echoing God’s saying His name to Moses—”I am who am”.  (The echo is clearer in Greek than English.)

Peter’s walking on and sinking into the water demonstrates what it means to have ”little faith.”  Peter has faith.  He joins the others in the boat in doing homage to Jesus and professing, ”truly, you are the Son of God.”  Peter also has faith enough to keep from sinking when he realizes  how strong the winds are, and how deep the waters.

We can likely see our own faith life portrayed in this scene.  We recognize who Jesus is; we profess Him as the Son of God.  We want to follow Him, but we sometimes become terrified by the winds that buffet us in life, and we begin to sink.  We too cry out, “Lord save Me!” Jesus stretches His hands out to us and says, ”take courage, it is I.  Do not be afraid.”

Through Peter, Matthew has shown us what it is to be a disciple.  We will doubt and will need to be pulled up by Jesus time and time again.  However, we also can share in the dignity and power of Jesus.  With enough faith in Jesus, we can do many things—maybe even walk on water.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell

 

The Transfiguration of the Lord

Posted on by Cassie

This year the Solemnity of the Transfiguration falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time.  It therefore supersedes the Sunday in Ordinary time and we focus today on the mystery of the Transfiguration.

Jesus’ transfiguration took place in the context of His speaking repeatedly about His coming suffering  and death.  The thought of His death caused His followers to be “overwhelmed with grief”.  To counterbalance their grief, the Transfiguration of Jesus gave them a foretaste of His risen  glory.  They were shown what would be the outcome of Jesus’ laying down His life:  He would be raised to eternal glory.  A share in His glory awaited those who were joined with Him and remained faithful to Him.

The transfigured Jesus is a glimpse of Him glorified by His Father, and a glimpse as well of  who we shall become when we are raised up to be with Him and like Him.  Jesus’ words to His disciples, “Rise, and do not be afraid”, tell us that we can live without fear because we look forward to being raised.

Grasping and living this hope takes faith—perhaps more faith than we can always muster.  However, remember that Jesus also tells us that a tiny bit of faith  can work wonders.  Nothing is impossible for God, not even raising us to eternal life.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Cassie

Burying valuables in the ground was a common way of protecting them in ancient times.  A past owner of a field had done so, and the present owner was unaware of it.  The parable assumes that someone buying the field was entitled  to anything buried in it.  The point of the parable is the joy in obtaining the treasure, and only secondly the costs to the buyer.  The parable of the pearl makes the same point.  We should be filled with joy at the prospect of obtaining eternal life, and consider the cost secondary.

To enter the kingdom of God is beyond all that one could ever hope for.  Its value is beyond all ability to pay for it.  This is in fact what Christianity is all about. To be a Christian means to be reunited with God through Christ.  This is of greater value than everything else in this world.

The emphasis of these two parables is not on how much he gives up but on how much he finds—and how happy about it he is.  When we find the gift of salvation, we joyfully give up everything  else in order to possess it.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell