Homily 19th Sunday A

Homily 19th Sunday O.T. A SBC Schuyler 2026 Mt 14:22-33 1 Kg 19:9.11-13 Rom 9:1-5

An unbelieving scientist was on an expedition through the desert, guided by some Arabs.
At sundown the Arabs spread out their carpets and prayed. “What are you doing,”
the scientist asked one. “I am praying.” – “To whom?” – “To Allah.”
“Have you ever seen, touched, or felt Allah, your God?” – “No.” – “Then you are foolish.”

The next morning, the scholar, crawling out of his tent, said to the Arab:
“A camel was here tonight.” Now the eyes of the Muslim lit up:
“Have you seen, touched, or felt it?” – “No.” – “Then you are a strange scholar.”
“Well, we see its footprints all around the tent!”

At that very moment the sun rose in all its splendor.
The Arab pointed toward it and said: “There you see the footprints of God!!” –
God’s presence is all around us. We only need eyes to see.

Today’s gospel comes in two parts. First, it presents us with Jesus
spending a night on a mountain in prayer. Before the Feeding of the Five Thousand,
last Sunday’s gospel, which precedes our text today, Jesus had heard
about the execution of John the Baptist, his cousin.
Apparently, he needed time to deal with this sad news.
John, as well as Jesus, had proclaimed the message:
“Reform your lives! The kingdom of God is at hand!” Jesus respected John highly;
and Jesus knew that he, with his words and deeds, was in danger, too.
For Jesus, the night on the mountain probably was, humanly speaking, a time of grieving
and of handing himself over anew completely in prayer to God, his heavenly Father.

Second, there are the disciples who cross the Sea of Galilee at night.
They are scared when their boat is tossed about by the waves.
Even when Jesus himself is with them they first don’t recognize him;
rather their fear increases. Then there is this special scene with Peter,
who, realizing that it is Jesus, wants to approach him immediately, leaving the boat.
As long as his eyes are fixed on Christ, he can master the waves.
But when he looks at the storm and at the waters, he becomes fearful and is about to drown.
Sinking Peter then directs his attention back to Jesus, exclaiming: “Lord, save me!”
Peter is rescued and the wind dies down.

Both parts of this gospel are images for our own lives. When we are confronted
with challenges, it can happen that God gets out of sight for us.

As it was with the disciples who didn’t recognize Jesus, so we sometimes
don’t take the signs of God’s presence for real. God is the “I AM,”
the one who is with us always, loving us and caring for us.
For us, too, it is appropriate, when we are in trouble, to call out:
“Lord, help me, rescue me!”
But also Jesus’ night of prayer has a lesson for us: We, too, need regular times
of being with God, of letting ourselves be enveloped by God’ presence, as Jesus did.

My sisters and brothers, in Jesus praying on the mountain, in the disciples in the boat,
and in sinking Peter we can see images of us and of our church.
What we need is attentiveness to God’s presence and trust in the One who can support us
even and especially in the stormy periods of our lives and of our world.

It is good to build times into our day, our week and our year when we hand over
our lives and everything that is going on completely in prayer to God,
or when we simply become silent in God’s presence like Jesus on the mountain
or like Elijah in his cave.

During the activities of our day, we can continue our prayer,
for instance, with the well-known Jesus Prayer of the Eastern Church,
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” We can repeat this line
throughout the day, whenever our mind is free to do so.
Such continuous prayer has a transforming effect on our lives.

The scientist in our story didn’t pay attention to the presence, the ‘footprints,”
of God’s mystery in the wonderful sunrise. If we continue to pray
and to be attentive to God, the “I AM,” with us and within us,
then we have no reason to fear and to worry too much in whatever situation we are.

May the Eucharist we share transform us and empower us
to be, in our daily lives and in an often very secular and stormy world,
signs and instruments of God’s presence and work. AMEN.

~ Fr. Thomas, OSB