Homily for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time: The Ship That Does Not Sink

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  August 9, 2020
Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette

Video of Mass: https://youtu.be/ZfHVJ5yehUQ

This is one of the more popular scenes from the Gospel and there are a lot of ways to apply it: the power of faith to do the impossible, the importance of keeping your eyes on Jesus, the way that Jesus catches us when we call out to him. Really, it’s one of those passages that seems so familiar, so obvious to interpret that it’s easy for us to stop listening when it comes up. “Yeah, yeah, keep my eyes on Jesus so I don’t drown… I know that already.” But we musn’t let familiarity close us to what else it has to say.

I’ll use a few images from this scene as analogies, metaphors that we can use to think of our spiritual life. As with any analogy, we don’t want to be too strict in how we think of it, so don’t get hung up on the details, but let it inspire prayer and reflection.

The Apostles in the boat is an image of the Church in the world and traveling through history. As the Church navigates its way through history, the world batters it from the outside trying to sink us in our mission to proclaim the Truth of salvation and the forgiveness of sins. As with the Apostles, the Pope and bishops are responsible for reading the wind and the waves and steering the Church through it. This means recognizing popular errors and sins and providing an adequate response that helps people get out of the storm and into the boat.

Like the Apostles, the Pope and bishops don’t always do this well; They are sometimes overwhelmed by the task and it seems like the ship, the Church, is going to sink. Yet, in every case, a returned focus to Jesus Christ saves the Apostles and quiets the storm. We see it when Jesus is asleep in the boat in another passage and we see it here. When Jesus finally gets to the boat, after walking on the water, the storm dies down.

The Church has the fullness of truth, entrusted to it by Jesus Christ. At the same time, the Church is charged with drawing people of every race, language, and culture into the truth. We do that not just by proclaiming the name of Jesus, but also by looking for the fragments and reflections of the truth already out there in the world. Or, to use this example, we watch the wind and waves in order to recognize Jesus out there, walking on the water. It is often surprising how various cultures will have insight into certain parts of the truth – cultures that foster love of neighbor, self-sacrifice, mystical prayer, discipline – fragments of the Truth that is fully revealed only in Jesus Christ. It can be as surprising as a man walking on the water.

The goal, however, is still to keep the ship afloat and to draw others into it, using the truth they do have and connecting it to the fuller picture. And just as it is an act of faith to step out on the water, so it is an act of faith to step into other cultures and ideas to seek out Christ in their midst, the same Christ who will quiet the storm and bring his children to safety. And just as Peter wrongly focuses on the wind and starts to sink, so do many who engage in this task make the same mistake, taking their eyes off Christ. Thus, instead of overcoming the storm for the sake of Christ, they get lost in the storm and nearly drown.

This has happened in our lifetime. The Second Vatican Council was meant to be a renewal of the Church’s mission to evangelize. It was meant to steer the ship of the Church through the storm, to read the signs of the times and recognize the truth out there that could be used to draw people out from the storm and into the fullness of Truth in the Church. This great “stepping out” of the Church’s leaders 60 years ago was supposed to be an act of faith that manifested God’s power. Yet, so many bishops and priests, once they stepped out, stopped looking at Jesus and looked at the wind. Rather than helping those drowning in the sins of the world, they simply went to drown with them.

So we have Catholics, even bishops and Cardinals, who try to “update” the Church’s teaching on marriage, chastity, the sacraments, and anything else the world doesn’t understand. They saw Jesus in the people lost in the storm of the world, but when they went out to meet him, they took their eyes off Christ and sank into sin, error, and all kinds of foolishness.

This is where we find ourselves today. This is why so many Catholics don’t believe in the Eucharist… they support abortion and gay marriage, they justify racism and violence, and they don’t take their sins seriously. They, and many of their pastors, looked at the wind and they sank.

But the ship has not sunk. Jesus, standing on the water, has not sunk. When Peter cried out, Jesus caught him and rebuked him, but he also brought him back to the boat, to the safety of the whole truth of faith… and the storm fell quiet. The Church, no matter how bad the storm, will never sink. But that doesn’t mean we simply wait and do nothing. If you count yourself Catholic, then you must live this tension between staying in the ship and walking on water.

We must tend to the ship. We must know the Truth of Christ and stay rooted in it by how we speak and live, but we must also step out to proclaim the Gospel to others.

We have to read the wind and the waves to understand how to respond to the culture, but we cannot pay too much attention to the strength of the wind and lose sight of Christ.

We have to know that Jesus is with us in the ship, but we must also recognize him in the lost souls made in his image… those who do not see him in themselves.

We can find no refuge in one extreme or the other. The Apostles who stayed in the ship didn’t sink, but they also didn’t walk on water. Peter walked on water, but then he sank. Either way, we must look to Jesus Christ. Those hiding in the ship cannot pretend he is not also the Son of God, able to walk through the storm even without the ship. Those sinking in the water must call out for him and be led back to the Truth.

Where are you? Lost in the storm? Hiding on the ship? Sinking in false compromise? Look for Jesus Christ. Listen for his voice. Call out to him. “let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.”

“Truly, you are the Son of God.” Lord, save me. Lord, save us all.