WEEK 19 - YEAR A - SAVE ME -

Music - With great thanks to the Franciscan Missionaries of Mercy, Brixton

"SONG OF PRAISE"-© Sr. Roisin FMM, (2026). 

https://youtu.be/ZTrDm8l1IUQ?si=XIDrlnOdLk7oTSWi

I KINGS  19:9a -,11 - 13

Romans 9 : 1-5

Gospel -Matt 14 : 22-33

Deacon Tom Copyright © 2022 -2026 
I  sincerly hope that no copyright has been infringed. Pardon is sought and apology made if the contrary is true, and a correction will be made in any future Hompods.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hello, good morning, and welcome to week 19 of Ordinary Time. Lord Save Me. The Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side of the lake, while he dismissed the crowds. After he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. In the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, It is a ghost, and they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, Take heart, it is I have no fear. Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water. He said, Come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, Peter was afraid and began to sink. He cried out, Lord save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat the wind ceased. Those in the boat worshipped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God. The gospel of the Lord. Last week the disciples and Jesus seemed to disagree about what to do about the large crowd that had followed them into the wilderness. They were in a time of great anguish after the violent death of John the Baptist. The desert places tend to be where anguish and sorrow takes us all at some time in our lives. There is a poem in Hosea that says there is always a call to the desert before a new start or rebirth of life can begin again, especially after a tragedy. We know that in this present desert time caused by wars and various events worldwide that bring fear and anguish into our daily lives, and we ask ourselves what can we do about any situation like this? How can we end it? We usually discover that specifically concerning these wars, that the answer is prayer. And concerning other trials and problems, we can also find that there is an answer in looking to those saints who have suffered in some way and overcome the stress of the situation. This week it's a feast of Saint John Viani. Last week we were talking about making an avena to Saint Anthony of Padua, who local parish in Liverpool celebrated 100 years of being the parish of Saint Anthony of Padua. There's Saint Rita. There are many, Saint Philamine. Whoever the saint is, have a look at their lives and how they overcame the difficulties. Because sadly, there isn't always a solution if we rely entirely on our own efforts and even more so if we end up in the desert feeling completely alone and helpless. We need hope that is brought to us by turning to anyone like that and saying, like Peter, Lord save me. Whisper in the ear of our Lord, save. Before the first reading from Kings, Elijah was feeling exactly the same. He had gone a day's journey into the wilderness, sat down under a broom bush, and prayed to the Lord to take away his life. We know this can be a real danger in the world, even for the most successful, when they find that it's all too much. For whatever reason, it's not surprising that the suicide rate is so high all over the world. If you look at any newspaper, you'll soon see countless examples of the fear, hurt, sorrow, and anguish that burdens so many people who feel that life is not worthwhile when trying to face the challenges of our times. There's also a list as long as your arm of life coaches who'll provide ways out of this. One answer they give is to live in the past, look back and wish for all the nostalgic events of our youth to comfort us. Candy kisses wrapped in paper. Some people build a castle out of past dreams, but these can very soon collapse. Another idea is to build your life on the future. Dream about the next holiday when it will never rain. The next job will be better than this dead end trap. If I build some big barns now and work hard at filling them up in the future I can sit back, eat, drink, and be merry. Remember the warning Jesus gave about this chap. The most popular escape method seems to be to live in a fantasy world. The rules of the fantasy world is that you block out what is going on with anything that blunts reality. Look at the massive increase in the price of shares in all those TV series, the you know the companies like Netflix and what have you. The trouble is you're always chasing rainbows, hoping to find a little gem but failing, and then reaching for the popcorn and the next box set. And despite these three common sense approaches to using our own resources, at some time we have to come back to the present and face a reality check. When Elijah had reached the end of his tether, he prayed for an answer and then fell asleep under the broom tree in the desert. When Jesus and the disciples finally dismissed the crowds in the story last week, they split up. Jesus went up to the mountains to pray alone like Elijah. The disciples tried to use their own resources to battle the forces they thought would overwhelm them. I'm now using the storm to represent the desert time of anguish rather than literally at this point. I think this is the clue Matthew is trying to give us as to what might be the spiritual path to take when faced with overwhelming odds against our survival. He even gives us the words of a prayer to use in times like these, or whenever we have to face reality and realize we cannot survive alone. Matthew has Peter, the strong, tough leader of men, the first Pope to be calling out at the top of his voice, Lord save me. The poem from Hosea, as I mentioned, comes from chapter two, verse fourteen, and it reads Therefore I will now allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. From there I will give her her vineyards and make the valley a door of hope. Let's see what answer Elijah received after his desperate cry for help in the desert time. The Lord said, Go out and stand on the mountain. The Lord is about to pass by. When you cry out for help, what do you expect to happen when God rallies round? Do you expect a blast of trumpets, a blinding flashing of green lasers, a great life changing tornado? Elijah saw the rock splitting earthquakes, but God was not there. A great mountain splitting gale force wind. God was not there. A roaring forest devouring fire like the ones we've seen on the news, but God wasn't there. Then a voice spoke from the silence. What are you doing here, Elijah? In this challenging desert time, we could try calling for some strength from God in prayer rather than totally relying on our own talents for survival or on our own dreams. The Lord will not be in the noisy TV or down at the pub or appear like the genie in the bottle or even in the best representation of Disneyland. The answer will be in the sheer silence and gentle breeze and the endless love that God has for each and every one of us. If we want the Lord to tell us the dream he has for us, we need to be silent. We need to be still. The dream fixer is a phrase coined by Father Jim Hanley on a retreat. The first words he says we might hear in the silent deserts are What are you doing here? Don't worry. Hand it all over to me, and I'll see that it becomes a new dream.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

For you have given me love.