Our site uses cookies to improve the user experience and we recommend accepting its use to take full advantage of the navigation

I agree
More information

Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (Jer 28:1-17): In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah, son of Azzur, from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people: «Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will restore to this place all the vessels of the temple of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took away from this place to Babylon. And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon’, says the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon’».

The prophet Jeremiah answered the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people assembled in the house of the Lord, and said: «Amen! thus may the Lord do! May he fulfill the things you have prophesied by bringing the vessels of the house of the Lord and all the exiles back from Babylon to this place! But now, listen to what I am about to state in your hearing and the hearing of all the people. From of old, the prophets who were before you and me prophesied war, woe, and pestilence against many lands and mighty kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as truly sent by the Lord only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled».

Thereupon the prophet Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, and said in the presence of all the people: «Thus says the Lord: ‘Even so, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from off the neck of all the nations’». At that, the prophet Jeremiah went away.

Some time after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: «Go tell Hananiah this: ‘Thus says the Lord: By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke! For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: A yoke of iron I will place on the necks of all these nations serving Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; even the beasts of the field I give him’».

To the prophet Hananiah the prophet Jeremiah said: «Hear this, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, and you have raised false confidence in this people. For this, says the Lord, I will dispatch you from the face of the earth; this very year you shall die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord». That same year, in the seventh month, Hananiah the prophet died.
Responsorial Psalm: 118
R/. Lord, teach me your statutes.
Remove from me the way of falsehood, and favor me with your law.

Take not the word of truth from my mouth, for in your ordinances is my hope.

Let those turn to me who fear you and acknowledge your decrees.

Let my heart be perfect in your statutes, that I be not put to shame.

Sinners wait to destroy me, but I pay heed to your decrees.

From your ordinances I turn not away, for you have instructed me.
Versicle before the Gospel (Jn 1:49b): Alleluia. Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Mt 14:22-36): Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the sea, 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 him, 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.”

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret. When the men of that place recognized him, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought to him all those who were sick and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak, and as many as touched it were healed.

“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

Fr. Lluc TORCAL Monk of Santa Maria de Poblet (Santa Maria de Poblet, Tarragona, Spain)

Today, we will not see Jesus sleeping on the boat while it sinks, nor rebuking the winds and the waves with a single word, thus causing the amazement of the disciples (cf. Mt 8:23-27). But today's action is also disconcerting, whether for his first disciples or for us as we contemplate it today.

Jesus had obliged his disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side; he had sent everyone away after having satiated the hungry crowd and had remained alone on the mountain, deeply immersed in prayer. (cf. Mt 14:22-23). Without their Master, the disciples were having trouble facing the wind. It was then when Jesus came to them walking on the water.

The disciples were understandably terrified to see Jesus: since people do not usually walk over water, they thought they were seeing a ghost. But they were wrong: it was not an illusion, but the Lord himself, inviting them —as He did quite often— not to be afraid, but to trust him to awaken their faith.

This faith was first demanded of Peter, who said: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” (Mt 14:28). With these words, Peter showed that faith consists of abiding by the word of Christ: Peter did not say “let me walk on the water”; rather, he wanted to follow what the Lord commanded him to do, and to believe the veracity of the Master's words.

While Peter’s doubts made him reel his emerging faith, they led the other disciples to bow down and confess before their Master: “Truly, you are the Son of God” (Mt 14:33). “The apostles, being storm-tossed in the sea, as soon as they saw the waters leaping up round their Lord's feet, and beheld His fearless footsteps on the water, as He walked amid the raging waves of the sea, and the ship, which was beaten upon by the waves, had rest as soon as Christ entered it, and they saw the waves and the winds obeying Him — then, though as yet they did not believe in their hearts they believed Him to be God's true Son” (St. Ambrose).

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “Prayer is conversation and dialogue with God: security of things that are expected, equal status and honor with the angels, amendment of sins, remedy of evils, guarantee of future goods” (St. Gregory of Nyssa )

  • “What is prayer? It is commonly held to be a conversation. In a conversation there is always an “I” and a “you”. In this case the You is with a capital Y. The “You” is more important because our prayer begins with God” (Saint John Paul II)

  • “There is no other way of Christian prayer than Christ. Whether our prayer is communal or personal, vocal or interior, it has access to the Father only if we pray "in the name" of Jesus…” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2.664)

Get it free every day Subscribe

August 2nd
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Gospel and commentary video

_______

The calendar of Saints and Solemnities for August