08.08.2020 Homily

The story is told about a young boy who was being prepared to be a sailor. He was taken aboard the ship and the older sailors taught him all the skills that he needed, all the activity that he had to undertake if he was to be a good sailor. And one of the things he had to learn was to how to climb the mast of the ship up to the crow's nest on top.

And so one day he was doing that and everything was fine until he got about halfway up and he stopped, and he looked down and he saw how far down it was. And he saw the boat shifting a bit from side to side and he began to feel dizzy.

He began to lose his grip. And a seasoned sailor from below yelled, "Lad, look up, look up lad!" He raised his eyes and he looked up, and he was able to make it to the top of the mast.

I think that's not unlike story that we're told about Peter in today's gospel reading. Peter faced an insurmountable challenge. This wind and the sea was really too much. The Lord was present and Peter asked for him; he wanted Jesus to call him so that he would know that it truly is the Lord. And he was doing just fine, he was walking on the water until he took his eyes off Jesus, until he looked at the waves, until he focused on the wind. And he was sucked into that devastating circumstance. And there was only blackness there, there was no light and he began to sink.

You and I, we face many challenges that seem far beyond our ability. As a world, we're present within a pandemic now that that no one really knows about, no one really can tell us what's going to happen. We have to live through it. We have to go day by day.

That's the storm. That's the wind and the waves for us. And Jesus says, "Look at me. Keep your eyes on me. Place your trust in me. Do not lose faith. Do not be afraid.”

And that's what we're invited to do. We're invited to keep our eyes on Him and know that I don't have the answers and you don't have the answers, but we do know that if we keep our eyes on Him, there will be a way. And we know that if we allow ourselves to be sucked up in all that death-giving negativity that can surround us, then we lose, and there's nothing.

So we pray today that we might simply learn again to keep our eyes on Jesus.