My Dear People,

The body of the Gospel of Matthew is divided into five major units or blocks of narrative, ending with a major discourse (or “homily” if you will of Jesus Chapters 3-7, 19-25). Each section ends with the comment, “When Jesus had finished saying all these things” or something very similar (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). Therefore, this Sunday’s Gospel is set near the beginning of the fourth unit of Matthew, a unit marked especially by the theme of forgiveness, particularly where forgiveness is practiced and administered in the Church—the visible manifestation of the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Thus, Jesus’s concluding discourse of this unit in Chapter 18 will largely deal with forgiveness of sin and the power to “loose (meaning ‘forgive’) on earth” figures prominently in the great periscope of Peter’s confession (16:13-20). (Forgiveness is not a dominant theme in this Sunday’s reading, but we do note the kindness Jesus allows Peter’s failure of faith). As soon as Peter cries out, Jesus “immediately” extends His hand and catches him, suggesting an attentive solicitude for the Apostle’s welfare. The Lord doesn’t sit back and let Peter flounder around in the water to teach him a lesson. Even with the rebuke “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”, we understand that Jesus said it with gentleness, as one who knows the weakness of our condition.

Note various parallels with the First Reading. In both instances, we have a great prophet (Elijah, Jesus) going to a mountain to pray alone. The moral sense of the text is obvious—these great men of God did not neglect their prayer life. If they needed to renew their relationship with God through the communion of prayer, how much more so do we?

In both cases, we have the presence of storm imagery that serves as a distraction from concentrating on the presence of God. Elijah may have had unrealistic hopes for what could be accomplished by dramatic public miracles. At Horeb, he senses God

is not in the storm phenomena that shakes the mountain outside his cave. Likewise in the Gospel, when Peter takes his focus off the Lord and starts to contemplate the wind and waves that are lashing about him, his faith begins to collapse.

Let’s not, though, be too hard on Peter. He was, after all, the only one of the Apostles willing to get out of the boat! So, he attempted something for Jesus; it failed, and he needed to be rescued. But he learned something from his attempt, and his faith grew in the long run.

One is reminded of Pope Francis’s statement that he would prefer the church suffer some damage by going out into the streets to minister than to have her stay safely in the sanctuary and not get the Gospel out.

The readings work together this week to call us, as followers of Christ, away from an attitude of fear and intimidation. The wind and waves that toss around us—the personal and public turmoil of our lives and world—are ultimately under the control of God. But gazing at all the turmoil can be a major distraction from God’s call (in Latin), His “vocation” in our lives.

Likened to Jesus’s call to Peter, focus on the “still, small voice” of Jesus beckoning us. We ought to walk toward Him by concentrating on fulfilling our vocation daily and not to capitulate to fear of the chaos that rages around us.

[Source: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A by Dr. John Bergsma]

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente