Opening Prayer: O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we
feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of your presence, your
love, and your strength. Help us to have
perfect trust in your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing
may frighten or worry us, for, living close to you, we shall see your hand,
your purpose, your will through all things. ~St. Ignatius
Scripture: Matthew 14:23-32
Journal: Where is Jesus calling you to step out of your
boat these days? What does that look
like? Where is he calling you to deeper
places with him? To deeper trust?
Reflection:
If nothing else you have to admire Peter's
willingness. I mean, at least he desired to step out of the boat and move
toward Jesus--and dared to do so. It was not an easy step, to say the
least. The step into deep waters never is. It requires a lot.
Jesus was asking Peter to leave the security of the boat and his friends and
his old life and ways, and to join him in a totally new and totally unfamiliar
place. A place of total surrender and total abandon. That's what real life with God is all
about. We can't avoid it or deny it.
And when Jesus invites us to
that place with him it always requires us to step out of our
comfortable and controlled lives (and ways) and step into a life
that is completely determined and ordered by him. It is a
place where real trust is necessary and real life is
experienced. Peter took him up on it. Most of us never get that
far. Most of us hear the call and rationalize that it is for someone
else. Most of us hear his invitation to a deeper life with him and allow
the wind and the waves to affect us, long before we ever consider
stepping out onto the raging sea.
Peter's willingness meant that he was able
to experience something that none of the other disciples (at this point at
least) were willing to. That is often the case with all of us. So
often we are simply unwilling--be it from fear, or preoccupation, or comfort,
or control and agenda--to step out onto the sea (into the deep) with
Jesus, where we must totally trust his care and his control. The
deep is a place where we cannot touch bottom, where we cannot control things,
where we cannot manage life on our own terms. The deep is a place where
we have no idea what will happen when we actually set foot upon its
waters. Therefore, it is a place of total vulnerability, total
surrender, and total trust. Peter was willing to go there. He
stepped out. He took nothing with him. He completely let
go of everything else but this burning desire to be with Jesus, wherever Jesus
may lead, whatever Jesus might ask. The call of Jesus is like that for us
all. Are we willing to take that step, whatever that step may look
like? Are we willing to join him? If we really want to be his,
there is no other choice.
Prayers
Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, give us a willingness to respond
to your invitation to step out of our boat, whatever that may mean, and to
follow you as we step out onto the raging sea.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment