Catholic Caucus, Daily Mass Readings, 08-01-05, Mem. St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop & Doctor-Church

August 1, 2005
Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, bishop and doctor of the Church

Psalm: Monday 34

Reading I
Nm 11:4b-15

The children of Israel lamented,
"Would that we had meat for food!
We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt,
and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks,
the onions, and the garlic.
But now we are famished;
we see nothing before us but this manna."

Manna was like coriander seed and had the color of resin.
When they had gone about and gathered it up,
the people would grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar,
then cook it in a pot and make it into loaves,
which tasted like cakes made with oil.
At night, when the dew fell upon the camp, the manna also fell.

When Moses heard the people, family after family,
crying at the entrance of their tents,
so that the LORD became very angry, he was grieved.
"Why do you treat your servant so badly?" Moses asked the LORD.
"Why are you so displeased with me
that you burden me with all this people?
Was it I who conceived all this people?
Or was it I who gave them birth,
that you tell me to carry them at my bosom,
like a foster father carrying an infant,
to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers?
Where can I get meat to give to all this people?
For they are crying to me,
‘Give us meat for our food.'
I cannot carry all this people by myself,
for they are too heavy for me.
If this is the way you will deal with me,
then please do me the favor of killing me at once,
so that I need no longer face this distress."

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 81:12-13, 14-15, 16-17

R. (2a) Sing with joy to God our help.
"My people heard not my voice,
and Israel obeyed me not;
So I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts;
they walked according to their own counsels."
R. Sing with joy to God our help.
"If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
Quickly would I humble their enemies;
against their foes I would turn my hand."
R. Sing with joy to God our help.
"Those who hated the LORD would seek to flatter me,
but their fate would endure forever,
While Israel I would feed with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them."
R. Sing with joy to God our help.

Gospel
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.

From: Numbers 11:4b-15

Craving for Egyptian Food

[4b] And the people of Israel also wept again, and said, "0 that we had meat
to eat! [5] We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers,
the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; [6] but now our strength
is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at."

[7] Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of
bdellium. [8] The people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills
or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it; and the
taste of it was like the taste of cake baked with oil. [9] When the dew fell
upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

Moses' Prayer

[10] Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families every man at
the door of his tent; and the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was
displeased. [11] Moses said to the LORD, "Why hast thou dealt ill with thy
servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou dost lay the
burden of aIl this people upon me? [12] Did I conceive all this people? Did
I bring them forth, that thou shouldst say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom,
as a nurse carries the sucking child, to the land which thou didst swear to
give their fathers?' [13] Where am I to get meat to give to all this people?
For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' [14] I am
not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me.
[15] If thou wilt deal thus will me, kill me at once, if I find favor in thy
sight, that I may not see my wretchedness."

Commentary:

11:7-9. The people dream of the sort of food they had in Egypt. The manna
was a sign of the providence of God, who supplied his people with food in
the arid desert. Therefore, their lack of appreciation for the manna, and on
top of that their protest against God, show their blindness, their inability
to appreciate the gifts God is giving them. Regarding the manna, cf. the
note on Exodus 16:1-36.

[The note on Exodus 16:1-36 states:

16:1-36. The prodigy of the manna and the quails was a very important sign
of God's special providence towards his people while they were in the
desert. It is recounted here and in Numbers 11, but in both accounts facts
are interwoven with interpretation of same and with things to do with
worship and ethics.

Some scholars have argued that the manna is the same thing as a sweet
secretion that comes from the tamarisk ("tamarix mannifera") when punctured
by a particular insect commonly found in the mountains of Sinai. The drops
of this resin solidify in the coldness of the night and some fall to the
ground. They have to be gathered up early in the morning because they
deteriorate at twenty-four degrees temperature (almost eighty degrees
Celsius). Even today desert Arabs collect them and use them for sucking and
as a sweetener in confectionery.

As we know, quails cross the Sinai peninsula on their migrations back and
forth between Africa and Europe or Asia. In May or June, when they return
from Africa they usually rest in Sinai, exhausted after a long sea crossing;
they can be easily trapped at this point.

Although these phenomenon can show where the manna and the quail come from,
the important thing is that the Israelites saw them as wonders worked by
God. The sacred writer stops to describe the impact the manna had on the
sons of Israel. They are puzzled by it, as can be seen from their remarks
when it comes for the first time: "What is it?" they ask, which in Hebrew
sounds like "man hu", that is, manna (v. 15), which is how the Greek
translation puts it. Indeed, the need to collect it every day gave rise to
complaints about some people being greedy (v. 20) and who did not understand
the scope of God's gift (v. 15). And just as manna is a divine gift to meet
a basic human need (nourishment), so too the divine precepts, specifically
that of the sabbath, are a free gift from the Lord (v. 28). So, obedience is
not a heavy burden but the exercise of a capacity to receive the good things
that God gives to those who obey him.

The prodigy of the manna will resound right through the Bible: in the
"Deuteronomic" tradition it is a test that God gives his people to show them
that "man does not live by bread alone, but [...] by everything that
proceeds from the mouth of the Lord" (Deut 8:3). The psalmist discovers that
manna is "the bread of the strong" ("of angels", says the Vulgate and the
RSV), which God sent in abundance (Ps 78:23ff; cf. Ps 105:40). The book of
Wisdom spells out the features of this bread from heaven "ready to eat,
providing every pleasure and suited to every taste" (Wis 16:20-29). And the
New Testament reveals the full depth of this "spiritual" food (1 Cor 10:3),
for, as the "Catechism" teaches, "manna in the desert prefigured the
Eucharist, 'the true bread from heaven' (Jn 6:32)" ("Catechism of the
Catholic Church", 1094).]

11:10-15. Despite the tone of complaint, in Moses' words we can glimpse
God's relationship to his people: he is their father, he made them into a
people. And the passage also shows the heavy responsibility he put on Moses'
shoulders--to the point that he feels unable to carry it any longer.

The imagery used here to describe God's concern for his people will later be
used by St Paul when he speaks of his concern for all the Christian
communities which grew from his preaching and which he has to guide towards
Christ (cf. I Thess 2:7-11).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Matthew 14:22-36

Jesus Walks on the Water

[22] Then He (Jesus) made the disciples get into the boat and go before
Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds. [23] And after
He had dismissed the crowds He went up into the hills by Himself to
pray. When evening came, He was there alone, [24] but the boat by this
time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for
the wind was against them. [25] And in the fourth watch of the night
He came to them, walking on the sea. [26] But when the disciples saw
Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!"
And they cried out for fear. [27] But immediately He spoke to them,
saying, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear."

[28] And Peter answered Him, "Lord, if it is you, bid me come to You on
the water." [29] He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and
walked on the water and came to Jesus; [30] but when he saw the wind,
he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me."
[31] Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to
him, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?" [32] And when they
got into boat, the wind ceased. [33] And those in the boat worshipped
Him, saying, "Truly You are the son of God."

[34] And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.
[35] And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent round to
all the region and brought to Him all that were sick, [36] and besought
Him that they might only touch the fringe of His garment; and as many
as touched it were made well.

Commentary:

22-23. It has been a very full day, like so many others. First, Jesus
works many cures (14:14) and then performs the remarkable miracle of
the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, a symbol of the future
Eucharist. The crowd who have been following Him were avid for food,
teaching and consolation. Jesus "had compassion on them" (14:14),
curing their sick and giving them the comfort of His teaching and the
nourishment of food. He continues to do the same, down the centuries,
tending to our needs and comforting us with His word and with the
nourishment of His own body. Jesus must have been very moved,
realizing the vivifying effect the Blessed Sacrament would have on the
lives of Christians--a sacrament which is a mystery of life and faith
and love. It is understandable that He should feel the need to spend
some hours in private to speak to His Father. Jesus' private prayer,
in an interlude between one demanding activity and another, teaches us
that every Christian needs to take time out for recollection, to speak
to His Father, God. On Jesus' frequent personal prayer see, for
example, Mark 1:35; 6:47; Luke 5:16; 16:12. See the notes on Matthew
6:5-6 and Matthew 7:7-11.

24-33: This remarkable episode of Jesus walking on the sea must have
made a deep impression on the Apostles. It was one of their
outstanding memories of the life they shared with the Master. It is
reported not only by St. Matthew, but also by St. Mark (6:45-52), who
would have heard about it from St. Peter, and by St. John (6:14-21).

Storms are very frequent on Lake Gennesaret; they cause huge waves and
are very dangerous to fishing boats. During His prayer on the hill,
Jesus is still mindful of His disciples; He sees them trying to cope
with the wind and the waves and comes to their rescue once He has
finished praying.

This episode has applications to Christian life. The Church, like the
Apostles' boat, also gets into difficulties, and Jesus who watches over
His Church comes to its rescue also, after allowing it to wrestle with
obstacles and be strengthened in the process. He gives us
encouragement: "Take heart, it is I; have no fear" (14:27); and we show
our faith and fidelity by striving to keep an even keel, and by calling
on His aid when we feel ourselves weakening: "Lord, save me" (14:30),
words of St. Peter which every soul uses when he has recourse to Jesus,
his Savior. Then our Lord does save us, and we urgently confess our
faith: "Truly you are the Son of God" (14:33).

29-31. St. John Chrysostom ("Hom. on St. Matthew", 50) comments that in
this episode Jesus taught Peter to realize, from his own experience,
that all his strength comes from our Lord and that he could not rely on
his own resources, on his own weaknesses and wretchedness. Chrysostom
goes as far as to say that "if we fail to play our part, God ceases to
help us." Hence the reproach, 'O man of little faith" (14:31). When
Peter began to be afraid and to doubt, he started to sink, until again,
full of faith, he called out, "Lord, save me."

If at any time we, like Peter, should begin to weaken, we too should
try to bring our faith into play and call on Jesus to save us.

34-36. Learning from the faith of these people on the shore of Lake
Gennesaret, every Christian should approach the adorable humanity of
the Savior. Christ--God and Man--is accessible to us in the sacrament
of the Eucharist.

"When you approach the Tabernacle remember that He has been awaiting
you for twenty centuries" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 537).

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Father, you constantly build up your Church by the lives of your saints. Give us the grace to follow St. Alphonsus in his loving concern for the salvation of men, and so come to share his reward in heaven. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Recipes:

» Whole Wheat Batter Bread

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Activities:

» What is a Nameday?

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Prayers:

August 01, 2005

St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop & doctor

Old Calendar: St. Peter's Chains (Lammas Day); Holy Machabees, martyrs

St. Alphonsus de Liguori was a great preacher of the Gospel to the poor. His charity and apostolic spirit led him to found the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer to carry on this work. He sent his Redemptorists, as our Lord did the Apostles, into the countryside and the market towns and villages, to announce the Kingdom of God. He became Bishop of Sant' Agata dei Goti, near Naples, and died at the age of ninety, in 1787. For his great works on Moral Theology he has been declared a Doctor of the Church.

Before the reform of the General Roman Missal today was the feast of St. Peter's Chains. It celebrated the dedication of the basilica of St. Peter ad Vincula in Rome which was built in about 432 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome and consecrated on August 1. It was also the commemoration of the Holy Machabees. The seven Machabees were brothers martyred with their mother under Antiochus Epiphanes in about the year 150 before Christ. There is an account of their wonderful death in the Old Testament. Their relics venerated at Antioch in the time of St. Jerome, were translated to Rome in the sixth century, to the church of St. Peter's Chains.

St. Alphonsus Liguori

Alphonsus Liguori, born in 1696, was the son of an ancient Neapolitan family, his father an officer in the royal navy. At the age of sixteen, Alphonsus received his doctorate in both canon and civil law and for nearly ten years practiced at the bar. When he found that one of the legal cases he was defending was not based on justice but on political intrigue, he gave up the practice of law and dedicated his life to God.

Ordained to the priesthood in 1726, St. Alphonsus Liguori joined a group of secular priests dedicated to missionary activities. He involved himself in many kinds of pastoral activities, giving missions and organizing workers, and had a part in the founding of an order of contemplative nuns.

In 1732, he founded the Redemptorists, a congregation of priests and brothers, to work especially among the country people of Italy who often lacked the opportunity for missions, religious instruction, and spiritual retreats. Strangely, his first companions deserted him; but Alphonsus stood firm, and soon vocations multiplied and the congregation grew.

The Redemptorists were approved by Pope Benedict XIV in 1749, and Alphonsus was elected superior general. In 1762, he was appointed bishop of Sant' Agata dei God and as bishop he corrected abuses, restored churches, reformed seminaries, and promoted missions throughout his diocese. During the famine of 1763-64, his charity and generosity were boundless, and he also carried on a huge campaign of religious writing.

In 1768, he was stricken with a painful illness and resigned his bishopric. During the last years of his life, problems in his congregation caused him much sorrow and when he died on August 1, 1787, at Pagani, near Salerno, the Redemptorists were a divided society. He was beatified in 1816, canonized in 1839, and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1871.

Excerpted from the The One Year Book of Saints by Rev. Clifford Stevens.

Patron:Confessors; final perseverance; theologians; vocations.

St. Peter's Chains

There in some controversy as to whether St. Peter's chains were brought from Jerusalem by Eudoxia in 439, or by some travellers sent to the East in search of them by the martyr St. Balbina and her father, St. Quirinus, in 116. Gerbet defends the latter opinion and says St. Balbina gave them to Theodora, sister of St. Hermes, martyr, Prefect of Rome, from whom they passed into the hands of Pope St. Alexander I (108-117). St. Bede the Venerable, writing in the seventh century, speaks of the chains in connection with St. Balbina and St. Alexander.

Such was the reverence paid to these chains in the fifth and sixth centuries, that filings of them were considered precious relics suitable for kings and patriarchs, these filings being usually enclosed in a gold cross or key. Such a relic was sent by Pope St. Hormisdas to the Emperor Justinian; by St. Gregory to King Childebert, to Theoctista, sister of the Emperor Mauritius, to Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch, and others; by Pope Vitalian to Oswy of Northumbria; by St. Leo III to Charlemagne; by St. Gregory VII to Alphonsus, King of Castile. These crosses and keys were often worn round the neck as a preservative against dangers, spiritual and temporal.

St. John Chrysostom's words on St. Paul's chains apply equally to St. Peter's: "No glittering diadem so adorns the head as a chain borne for Christ. Were the choice offered me either of heaven or of this chain (suffered for Christ), I would take the chain. If I might have stood with the angels above, near the throne of God, or have been bound with Paul, I should have preferred the dungeon. Had you rather have been the angel loosing Peter, or Peter in chains? I would rather have been Peter. This gift of chains is something greater than power to stop the sun, to move the world, or to command the devils" (Homil. 8, in Ephes iii. I.).

Excerpted from Pilgrim Walks in Rome by P.J. Chandlery S.J.

This day still is known in English-speaking countries as Lammas Day, or loaf-mass day. This was the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year, on which day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop.

In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords on or before the first day of August. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it is referred to regularly, it is called "the feast of first fruits". The blessing of new fruits was performed annually in both the Eastern and Western Churches on the first, or alternately the sixth (Transfiguration), of August. The Sacramentary of Pope Gregory I (d. 604) specifies the sixth.

Excerpted from The Stations of the Sun, Ronald Hutton, Oxford 1996

Holy Machabees

The seven Machabean brothers, together with their mother, were martyred about the year 164 B.C. by King Antiochus Epiphanes. The mother in particular deserves to be admired for the heroic fortitude with which she encouraged her children to suffer and die. Their remains were venerated at Antioch. After the church which was built above their resting-place was destroyed, they were taken to Rome; during the renovation of the high altar of St. Peter in Chains (1876), a sarcophagus dating from the fourth or fifth century was found; lead tablets related the relics to those of the Machabean martyrs and their mother. Seldom does it happen that the Roman Church venerates Old Testament saints in the Mass and Office; it is much more common in the Greek rite. Martyrdom before the advent of Christ was possible only through faith and hope in Christ. Today's feast is among the oldest in the sanctoral cycle. In the second Book of Machabees, sacred Scripture recounts the passion and death of the Machabees in a very edifying manner. St. Gregory Nazianz discusses why Christians honor these Old Testament saints: "They deserve to be universally venerated because they showed themselves courageous and steadfastly loyal to the laws and traditions of their fathers. For if already before the passion of Christ they suffered death as martyrs, what heroism would they have shown if they had suffered after Christ and with the death of the Lord as a model? A further point. To me and to all who love God it is highly probable that according to a mystic and hidden logic no one who endured martyrdom before the advent of Christ was able to do so without faith in Christ. (The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch)

American Catholic’s Saint of the Day

August 1, 2005

St. Alphonsus Liguori

(1696-1787)

Moral theology, Vatican II said, should be more thoroughly nourished by Scripture, and show the nobility of the Christian vocation of the faithful and their obligation to bring forth fruit in charity for the life of the world. Alphonsus, declared patron of moral theologians by Pius XII in 1950, would rejoice in that statement. In his day, he fought for the liberation of moral theology from the rigidity of Jansenism. His moral theology, which went through 60 editions in the century following him, concentrated on the practical and concrete problems of pastors and confessors. If a certain legalism and minimalism crept into moral theology, it should not be attributed to this model of moderation and gentleness.

At the University of Naples he received, at the age of 16, a doctorate in both canon and civil law by acclamation, but soon gave up the practice of law for apostolic activity. He was ordained a priest and concentrated his pastoral efforts on popular (parish) missions, hearing confessions, forming Christian groups.

He founded the Redemptorist congregation in 1732. It was an association of priests and brothers living a common life, dedicated to the imitation of Christ, and working mainly in popular missions for peasants in rural areas. Almost as an omen of what was to come later, he found himself deserted, after a while, by all his original companions except one lay brother. But the congregation managed to survive and was formally approved 17 years later, though its troubles were not over.

Alphonsus’ great pastoral reforms were in the pulpit and confessional—replacing the pompous oratory of the time with simplicity, and the rigorism of Jansenism with kindness. His great fame as a writer has somewhat eclipsed the fact that for 26 years he traveled up and down the Kingdom of Naples, preaching popular missions.

He was made bishop (after trying to reject the honor) at 66 and at once instituted a thorough reform of his diocese.

His greatest sorrow came toward the end of his life. The Redemptorists, precariously continuing after the suppression of the Jesuits, had difficulty in getting their Rule approved by the Kingdom of Naples. Alphonsus acceded to the condition that they possess no property in common, but a royal official, with the connivance of a high Redemptorist official, changed the Rule substantially. Alphonsus, old, crippled and with very bad sight, signed the document, unaware that he had been betrayed. The Redemptorists in the Papal States then put themselves under the pope, who withdrew those in Naples from the jurisdiction of Alphonsus. It was only after his death that the branches were united.

At 71 he was afflicted with rheumatic pains which left incurable bending of his neck; until it was straightened a little, the pressure of his chin caused a raw wound on his chest. He suffered a final 18 months of “dark night” scruples, fears, temptations against every article of faith and every virtue, interspersed with intervals of light and relief, when ecstasies were frequent.

Alphonsus is best known for his moral theology, but he also wrote well in the field of spiritual and dogmatic theology. His Glories of Mary is one of the great works on that subject, and his book Visits to the Blessed Sacrament went through 40 editions in his lifetime, greatly influencing the practice of this devotion in the Church.

Comment:

St. Alphonsus was known above all as a practical man who dealt in the concrete rather than the abstract. His life is indeed a “practical” model for the everyday Christian who has difficulty recognizing the dignity of Christian life amid the swirl of problems, pain, misunderstanding and failure. Alphonsus suffered all these things. He is a saint because he was able to maintain an intimate sense of the presence of the suffering Christ through it all.

Quote:

Someone once remarked, after a sermon by Alphonsus, "It is a pleasure to listen to your sermons; you forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ."

Lessons from Exodus: You have to walk through a desert to get to the Promise Land.

I sailed with an Israeli who told me his understanding of Exodus. He said that the Children of Israel needed a purification process to convert the Jews from a nation of slaves into a nation of free individuals capable of accepting God's Word and choosing Him freely of their own will. This process helped to discipline and weed out the bad habits of belly aching.

God allows rain in our Lives:
From this same trip our vessel sailed into Split, Croatia. I met a young gal who worked with a travel agency. She explained how foreign business had not yet wanted to come into the former Yugoslavia because the indigenous were still too use to Communist ways. They belly ached more than understood their own new found freedom. I'll bet a Croatian Kuna that the Croatians today aren't the same people they were back in the 90s.

Hardship is a purification process and a cross that we must bear. Sometimes, by no fault of our own, some of us aren't the fertile soil that can receive God's Word, the seed mentioned in Jesus' parable. Maybe we came from abusive parents, or maybe our environment isn't right. Slavery keeps the soul from receiving Christ. Thus, God allows rain to fall in our lives. The rain washes away the worn foot paths, the choking weeds, and the thieving birds. Or, sometimes, to journey away from slavery, we have to walk through a waterless wilderness to seek what is beyond the reach of sinfulness. When God allows our hardened hearts to break, we again become become the moisten clay He desires. Then He can fashion us in the Love that He meant for us to have all along.

Jesus Surfs:
Jesus is a water sports type of guy. He road the waves ahead of his time. Jesus gave Simon the first "surfer name" which has a humorous double meaning:

1) the foundation to build His Church, and

2) the floating characteristics of the first Apostle.

Jesus, though not one to encourage reckless behavior as that of an adrenaline junkie, rewards those who have the moral and physical courage to follow Christ. Peter must not have been a strong swimmer, yet his ability to confront his fears was one characteristic that made him a natural leader. Why would one who doesn't swim well become a career fisherman? Did Peter follow a family profession? Did he take up fishing on a dare? Did he need the money? Was he tired of land lubbers?

Perhaps as quickly as Peter left his business, he may have started it in the first place. But, he had the courage to choose Christ upon discovering Him. He continued to choose Christ, even after he fell down or sank from fear.

Jesus is a worm on a hook:
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 26:46

reference from Psalm 22:
Look at verse 7 and recall the images of the Crucifixion.

Jesus becomes, "But I am a worm, hardly human, scorned by everyone, despised by the people."

Jesus' body is pierced to the Cross like a worm on a hook. His Apostles are fishers of men. From recent readings in the past few days, we see that we are the fish of the sea, per Jesus' parable, caught in the nets of these Apostolic fishers. Jesus is the Fruit on the Tree of Life. He is the Bait that nets us into Paradise.

There's a fascinating mystery constantly unraveling before our eyes of stories told and retold and endlessly connect from beginning to end. This story can only come from an All Loving, Ever Creating God.

Discovery of God is an endless Joy of Eternal intimacy.

Mt 14:22-36
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
22	And forthwith Jesus obliged his disciples to go up into the boat, and to go before him over the water, till he dismissed the people.	et statim iussit discipulos ascendere in navicula et praecedere eum trans fretum donec dimitteret turbas
23	And having dismissed the multitude, he went into a mountain alone to pray. And when it was evening, he was there alone.	et dimissa turba ascendit in montem solus orare vespere autem facto solus erat ibi
24	But the boat in the midst of the sea was tossed with the waves: for the wind was contrary.	navicula autem in medio mari iactabatur fluctibus erat enim contrarius ventus
25	And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking upon the sea.	quarta autem vigilia noctis venit ad eos ambulans supra mare
26	And they seeing him walking upon the sea, were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear.	et videntes eum supra mare ambulantem turbati sunt dicentes quia fantasma est et prae timore clamaverunt
27	And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not.	statimque Iesus locutus est eis dicens habete fiduciam ego sum nolite timere
28	And Peter making answer, said: Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters.	respondens autem Petrus dixit Domine si tu es iube me venire ad te super aquas
29	And he said: Come. And Peter going down out of the boat walked upon the water to come to Jesus.	at ipse ait veni et descendens Petrus de navicula ambulabat super aquam ut veniret ad Iesum
30	But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: Lord, save me.	videns vero ventum validum timuit et cum coepisset mergi clamavit dicens Domine salvum me fac
31	And immediately Jesus stretching forth his hand took hold of him, and said to him: O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?	et continuo Iesus extendens manum adprehendit eum et ait illi modicae fidei quare dubitasti
32	And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased.	et cum ascendissent in naviculam cessavit ventus
33	And they that were in the boat came and adored him, saying: Indeed thou art the Son of God.	qui autem in navicula erant venerunt et adoraverunt eum dicentes vere Filius Dei es
34	And having passed the water, they came into the country of Genesar.	et cum transfretassent venerunt in terram Gennesar
35	And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent into all that country, and brought to him all that were diseased.	et cum cognovissent eum viri loci illius miserunt in universam regionem illam et obtulerunt ei omnes male habentes
36	And they besought him that they might touch but the hem of his garment. And as many as touched, were made whole.	et rogabant eum ut vel fimbriam vestimenti eius tangerent et quicumque tetigerunt salvi facti sunt

A Voice in the Desert

Monday August 1, 2005 Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading (Numbers 11:4b-15 ) Gospel (St. Matthew 14:22-36)

We see in the readings today a contrast in the ways that we can approach situations in life. We have the Israelites out in the desert complaining, so Moses turns to the Lord and says, “Why do You treat Your servant so badly? If this is the way You’re going to treat me, then just do me the favor of killing me because I can’t handle it anymore.” Then we look at Peter in the Gospel reading today. He gets out of the boat and starts to walk. And he looks around and suddenly he begins to sink. The problem is that in both these situations these men were trying to do it pretty much themselves. They did not see beyond themselves that there could be a way that anything could happen.

Now if Peter would have just simply thought for a moment, the fact that he was walking on water was not something he could do all by himself anyway. Moses had gone up the mountain and he had received the commandments from God. He should have known better. Yet we see the humanness that is there because if we were honest we would all have to say that we have proven over and over again in our own lives that we cannot do it by ourselves. Yet, over and over, we keep trying to do it all by ourselves. We let God know that if we are backed into a corner and we cannot do anything else then we will call out to Him, just like Peter when he is sinking, crying out, “Lord, save me;” or Moses, when he cannot handle it anymore, then he will turn to the Lord and say, “I need some help here.”

We need to learn long before we are in that situation where we are sinking that we need to turn to God for help. There is no need to wait all the way until we are backed up against the wall. We need to turn to Him immediately and we need to seek to do it His way. That is the point we have to be able to understand. The people who came to Jesus to be healed at the end of the Gospel reading today, they understood they could not be healed themselves, and so they came just to touch the tassel on His cloak; and we are told that as many as touched it were healed. So it is that faith that God is going to take care of things and that we turn to Him and we reach out to Him and we seek His Will – and that is right from the beginning. That is the way it has to be in our lives.

If we are like the Israelites, we are going to grumble and complain because we did not get what we wanted. If we are going to be like Moses, we are going to be in trouble when it just gets too heavy for us, which you can be guaranteed there will be times when it is going to be just like that – and not just for a little bit of time – sometimes it goes on for day after day and week after week. It just seems crushing, and it is part of the way the Lord will help us to see that we cannot do this alone, that without Him we can do nothing. He purifies us this way and He helps us to be completely dependent on Him, not because He needs us to be dependent on Him, not because there is some ego trip, but because we need to be dependent on Him because without Him we can do nothing. Or we can be like Peter; we can say, “Oh, I’m going to trust in the Lord,” and out of the boat we go. Then as soon as we see the things going on around us, we take our eyes off of Jesus and we start to sink. And then when we are in trouble, we will call out to Him – and then we will actually make it His fault: “Why did You let me do this,” as though somehow it was He Who was lacking in faith. It is our own problem.

Or we can be like the people who came to Jesus. In simple faith, they simply reached out to Him and they were healed. They did not try to do it themselves. They did not have any other means. They simply acted in faith and they sought the Lord. That is precisely what we need to do as well. It does not have to be complicated because it is not. It is just very simple. In simple faith, we need to reach out to the Lord. We need to recognize that He is God and we are not, and that we are absolutely dependent on Him for everything. When we can reach out with that kind of faith, then we are going to see great things happening, not because we are looking for great things, but rather because we are simply relying on God. And He will take care of everything.

* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

The Word Among Us

Monday, August 01, 2005

Meditation
Numbers 11:4-15

Moses was overwhelmed to the point of despair. Leading God’s people had become too heavy a burden for him to bear. In today’s gospel, Peter was in a similar predicament. As the strong winds swirled around him, his faith failed him, and he began to sink. Both of these men hit the point where there was only one thing they could do—cry out to the Lord to save them.

All of us hit points in our lives that bring us to our knees. Whether it is the weight of sickness, the heavy burden of financial difficulty, or the fierce storms of divided family relationships, life throws situations at us that test our faith to the breaking point. It’s at these points, when the Lord’s power and love seem so distant, that Jesus is closest to us.

“That’s easy to say,” you may be thinking. “But my situation is truly hopeless. I have prayed and prayed. I have tried everything I can think of, but nothing helps. I don’t know what to do, and I’m ready to give up.”

Do this: Get on your knees and cry out with Moses and Peter: “Help me, Lord! I’m sinking!” This humble cry from a desperate soul reaches straight to heaven and unleashes the awesome power of God. Even if you don’t instantly perceive it, trust with all the faith you can muster that Jesus has heard your cry. Believe that he has a plan in motion to show you a way out.

Try this test today. If you’ve already prayed this way, make a decision to entrust the situation to the Lord and do your best to move forward with your day. Fight the temptation to dwell on the situation in anxiety and despair. Focus instead on loving and serving the people God has given you, and repeat often: “I entrust my life to Jesus today.”

“Jesus, right now I place my life in your hands. In sickness, in financial difficulty, and in the midst of wounded relationships, I offer myself to you. Come and lift me up from the stormy waters, and place my feet on the rock of faith in you.”

Psalm 81:12-17; Matthew 14:22-36

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