Nineteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 115
Reading 1
At the mountain of God, Horeb,
Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.
Then the LORD said to him,
“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;
the LORD will be passing by.”
A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains
and crushing rocks before the LORD—
but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake—
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake there was fire—
but the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.
When he heard this,
Elijah hid his face in his cloak
and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (8) Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your
salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD — for he proclaims peace.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie;
my conscience joins with the Holy Spirit in bearing me witness
that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ
for the sake of my own people,
my kindred according to the flesh.
They are Israelites;
theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants,
the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;
theirs the patriarchs, and from them,
according to the flesh, is the Christ,
who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I wait for the Lord;
my soul waits for his word.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a
boat
and precede him to the other side,
while he dismissed the crowds.
After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
When it was evening he was there alone.
Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore,
was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night,
he came toward them walking on the sea.
When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified.
“It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear.
At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter said to him in reply,
“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.”
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.
But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened;
and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter,
and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
After they got into the boat, the wind died down.
Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying,
“Truly, you are the Son of God.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080920.cfm
Meditation: It
Is I - Have No Fear
Does
the Lord Jesus seem distant when trials or adversity come your way? It was at
Jesus' initiative that the disciples sailed across the lake, only to find
themselves in a life-threatening storm. Although they were experienced
fishermen, they feared for their lives. While Jesus was not with them in the
boat, he, nonetheless watched for them in prayer. When he perceived their
trouble he came to them on the sea and startled them with his sudden
appearance. Do you look for the Lord's presence when you encounter difficulty
or challenges?
Fight fear with faith
This dramatic incident on the sea of Galilee revealed Peter's character more
fully than others. Here we see Peter's impulsiveness - his tendency to act
without thinking of what he was doing. He often failed and came to grief as a
result of his impulsiveness. In contrast, Jesus always bade his disciples to
see how difficult it was to follow him before they set out on the way he taught
them. A great deal of failure in the Christian life is due to acting on impulse
and emotional fervor without counting the cost. Peter, fortunately in the
moment of his failure clutched at Jesus and held him firmly. Every time Peter
fell, he rose again. His failures only made him love the Lord more deeply and
trust him more intently.
The Lord keeps watch over us at all times, and especially in our moments of
temptation and difficulty. Do you rely on the Lord for his strength and help?
Jesus assures us that we have no need of fear if we trust in Him and in his
great love for us. When calamities or trials threaten to overwhelm you, how do
you respond? With faith and hope in God's love, care and presence with you?
Lord
Jesus, help me to trust you always and to never doubt your presence and your
power to help me. In my moments of doubt and weakness, may I cling to you as
Peter did. Strengthen my faith that I may walk straight in the path you set
before me, neither veering to the left nor to the right.
Daily
Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Welcoming the Lord Jesus with expectant
faith and humility, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"While
human praise does not tempt the Lord, people are often ruffled and nearly
entranced by human praise and honors in the church. Peter was afraid on the
sea, terrified by the great force of the storm. Indeed, who does not fear that
voice: 'Those who say you are happy place you in error and disturb the path of
your feet' (Isaiah 3:12 Vulgate translation)? And since the soul struggles
against the desire for human praise, it is good for it to turn to prayer and
petition amid such danger, lest one who is charmed by praise be overcome by
criticism and reproach. Let Peter, about to sink in the waves, cry out and say,
'Lord, save me!' The Lord reached out his hand. He chided Peter, saying, 'O man
of little faith, why did you doubt?' - that is, why did you not, gazing
straight at the Lord as you approached, pride yourself only in him?
Nevertheless he snatched Peter from the waves and did not allow him who was
declaring his weakness and asking the Lord for help to perish." (excerpt
from SERMON 75:10)
https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2020&date=aug9
NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, MATTHEW 14:22-33
(1 Kings 19:9a,11-13a; Psalms 85; Romans 9:1-5)
KEY VERSE: "Take courage, it is I" (v. 27).
TO KNOW: After Jesus revealed himself as the one who nourished his people with the miraculous multiplication of loaves (Mt 14:13-20), he demonstrated that he was victorious over the destructive powers of evil. Jesus had sent his disciples in a boat ahead of him while he went up a hill to pray. When it grew late, a turbulent storm arose on the lake. Jesus saw his disciples struggling against the winds and the waves, making little progress. As the night wore on, Jesus came toward his terrified disciples, walking on the sea, evoking the victory that enabled Israel to cross the sea into the Promised Land (Ps 77:20). Jesus told his disciples to take courage; he was with them ("Emmanuel"). Peter, the leader of the struggling community, tried to come to the Lord, but he was overwhelmed by fear. At Jesus' command, Peter stepped out in faith, but when he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink beneath the waves and cried out, "Lord, save me!" (v. 30b). Grasping Peter by the hand Jesus asked, "Why did you doubt?" (v. 31b). Those who lacked faith now declared Jesus to be the "Son of God" (v. 33b). In walking on the water, Jesus shows that his power and authority are greater than anything that threatens to destroy us with doubt and fear.
TO LOVE: What is it that "drowns" me in fear, discouragement or sadness today?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to keep my eyes on you in all the storms of life.
http://www.togetherwithgodsword.com/commentaries-on-the-daily-gospel-of-the-mass.html
Sunday 9 August 2020
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 19:9, 11-13. Lord, show us your mercy and love, and
grant us your salvation – Psalm 84(85):9-14. Romans 9:1-5. Matthew 14:22-33.
Jesus walks on the water
Today’s familiar Gospel repays close imaginative attention. The
Master, alone on the mountainside, keeps a vigil of prayer.
The boat, in which his disciples have set out across the lake,
struggles against adverse winds. Its fearful occupants are spooked by a figure
walking across the dark waves – Lord, is it really you? Peter, sinking and
spluttering – Save me, Lord! The wind silenced, Jesus among them again – ‘You
of little faith! Why did you doubt?’ Which of these moments draws you, speaks
in your heart?
‘Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid.’
http://www.pray.com.au/gospel_reflection/sunday-9-august-2020/
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Saint of the Day for August 9
(October 12, 1891 – August 9, 1942)
Portrait of Edith Stein in the student chapel of the Hochschulgemeinde Wien im Edith-Stein-Haus | photo by Braveheart
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross’ Story
A brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in God when she
was 14, Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the autobiography of Teresa of
Avila that she began a spiritual journey that led to her baptism in 1922.
Twelve years later she imitated Saint Teresa by becoming a Carmelite, taking
the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Born into a prominent Jewish family in Breslau, Germany—now
Wroclaw, Poland—Edith abandoned Judaism in her teens. As a student at the
University of Göttingen, she became fascinated by phenomenology, an approach to
philosophy. Excelling as a protégé of Edmund Husserl, one of the leading
phenomenologists, Edith earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1916. She continued
as a university teacher until 1922 when she moved to a Dominican school in
Speyer; her appointment as lecturer at the Educational Institute of Munich
ended under pressure from the Nazis.
After living for four years in the Cologne Carmel, Sister Teresa
Benedicta moved to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands, in 1938. The
Nazis occupied that country in 1940. In retaliation for being denounced by the
Dutch bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had become Christians.
Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died in a gas chamber in
Auschwitz on August 9, 1942.
Pope John Paul II beatified Teresa Benedicta of
the Cross in 1987, and canonized her 12 years later.
Reflection
The writings of Edith Stein fill 17 volumes, many of which have
been translated into English. A woman of integrity, she followed the truth
wherever it led her. After becoming a Catholic, Edith continued to honor her
mother’s Jewish faith. Sister Josephine Koeppel, O.C.D. , translator of several
of Edith’s books, sums up this saint with the phrase, “Learn to live at God’s
hands.”
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-teresa-benedicta-of-the-cross-edith-stein/
Lectio Divina: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Lectio Divina
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Jesus walks on the sea
Matthew 14:22-33
1. Opening prayer
Come Holy Spirit, my life is going through a storm, the egoistic
winds impel me where I do not wish to go. I cannot resist their force. I am
weak and deprived of strength. You are the energy which gives life. You are my
comfort, my force and my cry of prayer. Come, Holy Spirit, reveal to me the
meaning of the Scriptures, give me peace anew, serenity and the joy of living.
2. Lectio
a) Key to the reading:
Jesus and His Disciples are on the shore of the lake, at
nightfall, after the multiplication of the loaves. Part of the passage is also
found in Mark (6:45-52) and in John (6:16-21). The episode of Peter (vv. 28-32)
is found only in Matthew. Some commentators hold that it is a question of an
appearance of Jesus after the Resurrection (Lk 24:37). The difficulties of the
Church and the need for a greater faith in the Risen Jesus are thus
foreshadowed.
b) A possible division of the Text:
Matthew 14:22-23: related to the multiplication of the loaves
Matthew 14:24-27: Jesus walks on the sea
Matthew 14:28-32: the episode of Peter
Matthew 14:33: the profession of faith.
c) Text:
22 And at once he made the disciples get into the boat and go on
ahead to the other side while he sent the crowds away. 23 After sending the
crowds away he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he
was there alone, 24 while the boat, by now some furlongs from land, was hard
pressed by rough waves, for there was a head-wind. 25 In the fourth watch of
the night he came towards them, walking on the sea, 26 and when the disciples
saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. 'It is a ghost,' they said, and
cried out in fear. 27 But at once Jesus called out to them, saying, 'Courage!
It's me! Don't be afraid.' 28 It was Peter who answered. 'Lord,' he said, 'if
it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.' 29 Jesus said, 'Come.'
Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the
water, 30 but then noticing the wind, he took fright and began to sink. 'Lord,'
he cried, 'save me!' 31 Jesus put out his hand at once and held him. 'You have
so little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?' 32 And as they got into the
boat the wind dropped. 33 The men in the boat bowed down before him and said,
'Truly, you are the Son of God.'
3. A Moment of prayerful silence
A desire to keep silence and to listen to God’s voice
Some questions:
In moments of darkness and interior storms, how do I react? How
are the presence and absence of the Lord integrated in me? What place does
personal prayer and dialogue with God have in me?
What do we ask the Lord in a dark night? A miracle, that He free us from this?
A greater faith? In which attitudes am I similar to Peter?
4. Meditatio
Brief commentary
22. And at once He made the disciples get into the boat and go
ahead to the other side while He sent the crowds away.
The multiplication of the loaves (14:13-21) could have generated in the
disciples triumphant expectations concerning the Kingdom of God. Therefore,
Jesus orders them at once to get away. He ‘obliged’, usually a verb of strong
significance. The people acclaim Jesus as a Prophet (Jn 6:14-15) and wish to
make Him a political ruler. The disciples are easily drawn by this (Mk 6:52; Mt
16:5-12), there is the risk of allowing themselves to be drawn by the
enthusiasm of the people. The disciples have to abandon this situation.
23. After sending the crowds away He went up into the hills by
Himself to pray. When evening came He was there alone.
Jesus finds Himself facing a situation in which the Galilean crowd becomes
enthusiastic because of the miracle and runs the risk of not understanding His
mission. In this very important moment, Jesus withdraws alone in prayer, as in
Gethsemane (Mt 26:36-46).
24. While the boat, by now some furlongs from land, was hard
pressed by rough waves, for there was a head-wind.
This verse where the boat is noticed, without Jesus, in danger, can be close to
verse 32 where the danger ceases when Jesus and Peter get into the boat.
25. In the fourth watch of the night He came towards them,
walking on the sea.
Jesus appears to His disciples in an extraordinary way. He transcends the human
limitations, He has authority over creation. He acts as God alone can (Job 9:8;
38:16).
26. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea they were
terrified. ‘It is a ghost’, they said, and cried out in fear.
The disciples were struggling with the contrary wind, they had spent a very
stressful day and now a sleepless night. At night (between three and six), in
the middle of the sea, they were really terrified in seeing one coming towards
them. They did not think of the possibility that it could be Jesus. Their
vision is too human, and they believe in ghosts (Lk 24:37). The Risen Lord though,
has overcome the force of chaos represented by the waves of the sea.
27. But at once Jesus called out to them, saying. ‘Courage! It
is Me! Do not be afraid!’
The presence of Jesus drives away all fear (9:2, 22). In saying “It is
Me” He evokes His identity (Ex 3:14) and manifests the power of God
(Mk 14:62; Lk 24:39; Jn 8:58; 18:5-6). Fear is overcome by faith.
28. It was Peter who answered: ‘Lord, he said, ‘If it is You,
tell me to come to You across the water’.
Peter seems to want still another confirmation of the presence of Jesus. He
asks for a sign.
29. Jesus said, ‘Come’. Then Peter got out of the boat and
started walking towards Jesus across the water.
Nevertheless, Peter is ready to run the risk, getting out of the boat and
trying to walk on the agitated waves, in the midst of a strong wind (v. 24). He
faces the risk of believing in the Word: ‘Come’.
30. But then noticing the wind, he took fright and began to
sink: ‘Lord’, he cried, ‘save me!’
Perseverance is also necessary in the choice of faith. The contrary forces (the
wind) are so many, that there is the risk of sinking. The prayer of
petition saves him..
31. Jesus put out His hand at once and held him. ‘You have so
little faith, He said, ‘why did you doubt?’
Peter is not left alone in his weakness. In the storms of Christian life we are
not alone. God does not abandon us even if He apparently is absent and does
nothing.
32. And as they got into the boat the wind dropped.
As soon as Jesus got in the boat the forces of evil cease. The force of hell
shall not prevail over it.
33. The men in the boat bowed down before Him and said: ‘Truly,
You are the Son of God.’
Now comes that profession of faith which had been prepared in the preceding
episode of the multiplication of the loaves, purified by the experience of
getting away from the Bread of eternal life (Jn 6:1-14). Now Peter can also
confirm his brothers in faith, after the trial.
5. For those who wish to go deeper into the text
Jesus, man of prayer
Jesus prays in solitude and at night (Mt 14:23; Mk 1:35; Lk
5:16), during the time of meals (Mt 14:19; 15:36; 26:26-27). On the occasion of
important events: for Baptism (Lk 3:21), before choosing the twelve (Lk 6:12),
before teaching how to pray (Lk 11: 1; Mt 6:5); before the confession at
Caesarea (Lk 9:18); in the Transfiguration (Lk 9: 28-29), in Gethsemane (Mt
26:36-44); on the Cross (Mt 27:46; Lk 23:46). He prays for His executioners (Lk
23:34); for Peter (Lk 22:32), for His disciples and for those who will follow
Him (Jn 17:9-24). He also prays for Himself (Mt 26:39; Jn 17:1-5; Heb 5:7). He
teaches to pray (Mt 6:5), He manifests a permanent relationship with the Father
(Mt 11:25-27), sure that He never leaves Him alone (Jn 8:29), and always hears
Him (Jn 11:22, 42; Mt 26:53). He has promised (Jn 14:16) to continue to
intercede in heaven (Rom 8: 34; Heb 7:25; I Jn 2:1).
6. Oratio: Psalm 33
I will praise Yahweh from my heart;
let the humble hear and rejoice.
Proclaim with me the greatness of Yahweh,
let us acclaim His name together.
I seek Yahweh and He answers me,
frees me from all my fears.
Fix your gaze on Yahweh and your face will grow bright,
you will never hang your head in shame.
A pauper calls out and Yahweh hears,
saves him from all his troubles.
The angel of Yahweh encamps around those who fear Him,
and rescues them.
Taste and see that Yahweh is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in Him.
Fear Yahweh, you His holy ones;
those who fear Him lack for nothing.
7. Contemplatio
Lord Jesus, sometimes we are full of enthusiasm and forget that
You are the source of our joy. In the moments of sadness we do not seek You or
we want Your miraculous intervention. Now we know that You never abandon us,
that we should not fear. Prayer is also our force. Increase our faith. We are
ready to risk our life for Your Kingdom.
https://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/lectio-divina-19th-sunday-ordinary-time
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