Prayer of the Day

Nineteenth Sunday of the Year

To-day’s Gospel reading gives us one of the most beautiful stories in the whole Bible.  Let us imagine the scene.  Having fed the multitude with only five loaves and two fish,  Jesus has sent everybody away – even the Apostles – as he needed to spend some time alone in prayer.  So we see him climb the hills and enter into deep communion with his heavenly Father.   In the meantime the Apostles are crossing the lake when a storm arises.  These storms came suddenly and could be very dangerous.   No wonder the Apostles were frightened.  To make matters worse they were on their own.  The Master had gone off to pray as was his custom.  But Jesus hadn’t forgotten them.  Tho’ far away on the hills he could see that they were in difficulty so he hastened to come to them walking on the water.  Naturally, the Apostles thought they were seeing a ghost and became even more frightened.

But Our Lord was quick to reassure them with these beautiful words; “Courage !  It is I !  Do not be afraid.”   Let us hear these words again spoken to us individually and to the Church as a whole.  Storms will continue to threaten us but if we really believe that Jesus is with us we can be at peace.  Knowing that in the end “all will be well.”  (Julian of Norwich)