August 4, 2009
Memorial of St. John Vianney
By Beth DeCristofaro
A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not off from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me. (Psalm 51:12-13)
(Jesus) came toward them, walking on the sea…. 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 him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:25, 28-31)
Piety
Insure I do all my good deeds secretly, being sloppily careless in my generosity, so I’ll scatter everywhere the rich seeds inside the love gifts you have given me. (From A Book of Wonders by Ed Hays)
Study
Peter got it! Peter got the wonder. He sensed the overreaching reality of what faith the size of a mustard seed could be and incredibly, Peter acted! At that impulsive moment, Peter got out of the boat with complete confidence in God’s loving care. He benefited in a superhuman moment from “love gifts”. Then, probably predictably, Peter noticed the waves and that humans can’t walk on water…so he began to sink.
It’s so difficult to live fully attentive and immersed in awareness of God. We so tend to be aware of ourselves and conscious of other’s opinions, thoughts, presence. We let doubt creep in because we know that things don’t go well all the time. We know that we can’t make a mountain move. We grab back control from God with pride and insulated by self-assurance that we are in charge. We think that we know the mind of God and are divinely appointed to our opinions. It affects us in so many ways as we let marriages dissolve, allow disagreements to fester, use power instead of love to categorize our fellows. We even censor our prayers as unworthy or a misuse of God’s attention. We will handle this problem ourselves.
Perhaps we should keep Peter’s impulsivity and immense leap of faith in mind more often. God has given us such freedom to choose. We can walk on water or we can sink. Either way, God is there before we are, ready for us. Through prayer, spending time with God and through spending time with others we can practice responding out of the love gifts God has given us. And when we don’t? Forgive ourselves and forgive others, sloppily spreading those seeds as we balance in the waves.
Action
Have we ever seen such crazy times? We have the opportunity to reform systems in our society which will allow more equality. Seek opportunities to continue the “creative engagement” in these issues as Pope Benedict did in his private audience with President Obama. Call your representatives in congress to voice your concern that health care and the financial stimulus be planned for the greater good not just special interests.
How can you jump out of the boat? How do you share your love gifts from God?
