Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 9, 2026: Lord, if it is you...

Lord, if it is you…
How do we know the Lord is near?
 What happens when we open ourselves to the presence of God? 

    The prophet Elijah had reason to fear Queen Jezebel, wife of King Ahaz, who becomes angry when her own prophets are unable to call down fire on dry wood while Elijah, praying that God work through him, sees water-drenched wood ignite without difficulty. Fleeing Jezebel, Elijah takes shelter in a cave at the mountain of God, Horeb. One can imagine Elijah, wound up tightly because fear has overridden his faith, waiting for the Lord to be passing by. How does he encounter God? Not in the spectacular ways you’d imagine – the strong and heavy wind or the earthquake or the fire – but in the calm and stillness that follow. 

    A strong wind also plagues the disciples whom Jesus has get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. But it is not the waves tossing about the boat that frighten them, but rather the experience of Jesus coming toward them walking on the sea. Peter is not convinced the figure is Jesus: Lord, if it is you, he says, command me to come to you on the water. If ?!? Ultimately, Peter’s focus is not on Jesus but on everything else around him: when Peter saw how strong the wind was, he became frightened, Matthew tells us. Fear has taken hold of Peter, and that fear will build upon itself. Jesus is, by contrast, the calm in the storm, stretching out his hand to catch Peter; the presence of God is revealed in the deep quiet within. What should be driving the disciples here is not fear, but their faith and trust in Jesus who saves. 

    As Paul reminds the Romans, God’s plan is that all will come to faith, but Paul has great sorrow and constant anguish in his heart because the Jewish people have not accepted Jesus as the Messiah. Theirs is the adoption, the glory, the covenant, Paul says, but they have to be open to God’s presence with the calm quiet of faith. 

    Our spiritual tradition always calls us back to calm; if you’re not calm, you can’t hear God. The psalmist knows this and can readily say, in Psalm 85, I will hear what God proclaims! Open to the presence of God, the psalmist celebrates all the ways he knows the Lord will come: when he sees signs of peace and kindness and truth and justice. May we too remain open to God’s presence among us, ready to see his kindness and salvation! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Nourished by Jesus (Jonathan Lewis)

     Jesus’ followers gather in community and are nourished by Jesus. Every Sunday, we have the opportunity to gather in community to be nourished by Jesus through the Eucharist. As you reflect on this gospel message, take a moment to thank God for providing us with the nourishment that our soul deeply needs and desires. 

--Jonathan Lewis,
Facebook, July 25, 2021

Image source: Loaves and Fishes, statue, St. Philip the Apostle, San Francisco, https://www.noevalleyvoice.com/2010/October/StPh.htm 
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Step beyond the literal (Fr. Patrick Michaels)

   To believe in the power of the Eucharist at work in us, we need to step beyond the literal and the tangible. If we can’t step beyond the literal and the tangible, we will not understand. We will misunderstand why Jesus came and what kind of life he wanted to share with us. It’s not a tangible life that he wants to share with us, it’s a spiritual life, a life of in-dwelling, he in us and yes, us in him – a shared existence, a Way, a Way through life where blessing is left behind in our wake because Christ is with us and we are with him.

--Fr. Patrick Michaels,
Homily, May 9, 2025

Image source: https://zeenews.india.com/web-stories/lifestyle/optical-illusion-within-6-seconds-spot-the-two-hidden-things-2830229.html. What do you see in this image?  Look again!

Ruminating the Word of God (Pope Francis)

Ruminate, v., from the Latin, ruminari,
to chew repeatedly for an extended period

-- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

     The Word of the Lord should be repeated, made one’s own, safeguarded. The monastic tradition of the monks, uses an audacious but very concrete term. It goes like this: the Word of God must be “ruminated.” “To ruminate” the Word of God. We could say that it is so nutritious that it must reach every aspect of life: to involve, as Jesus says today, the entire heart, the entire soul, the entire mind, all of our strength (cf. v. 30). The Word of the Lord must resound, echo and re-echo within us. When there is this interior echo that repeats itself, it means that the Lord dwells in the heart. 

 --Pope Francis

Image source 1: https://www.facebook.com/groups/biblestudyprayerandrevival/posts/4478263632453740/
Image source 2:  https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2021/documents/papa-francesco_angelus_20211031.html
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Beyond all human logic (Henri Nouwen)

    Remember the big crowd, five loaves, and two fish (Matt. 14:15-21)? Jesus said, “Give them something to eat.” The disciples responded, “Lord, fives loaves, two fish, big crowd? It doesn't fit.” Jesus said, “Give them something to eat.” And he said, “Throw out your nets.” They did and caught fish, but not just as many as they needed. They caught so many their nets could not hold all the fish. It is the same with the crowd. Jesus didn't just want to be sure everyone got a little piece of bread. There were twelve big baskets of leftovers! And the boat was so full of fish that Simon didn't know what to do with them. 

    Jesus breaks right through our normal logic. He is moving all of reality to the kingdom. Suddenly the fishermen were no longer living in the logic of the world. They had entered the logic of God's house, which is beyond all human logic. They had entered a whole new world. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Miracle of the Five Loaves and Two Fish (16th c.), https://lisahendey.com/your-gifts-matter-five-loaves-and-two-fish/
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Multiplied (Bishop Robert Barron)

     What you have received as a gift, give as a gift – and you will find the original gift multiplied and enhanced. 

--Bishop Robert Barron 

Image source: Juan de Espinal, The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes (ca. 1750), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Milagro_de_los_panes_y_los_peces,_de_Juan_de_Espinal_(Ayuntamiento_de_Sevilla).jpg 

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O holy and sacred inebriation (St. Francis de Sales)

All you who are thirsty,
come to the water! 

--Isaiah 55:1 

    Now in all divine mysteries there is food provided for dear friends to eat and drink well, and for dearest friends to be inebriated. Some eat and drink, but they eat more than they drink and so are not inebriated: the others eat and drink, but drink more than they eat, and those are they who are inebriated. Now to eat is to meditate, for in meditating a man doth chew, turning his spiritual meat hither and thither between the teeth of consideration, to bruise, break and digest it, which is not done without some labour. To drink is to contemplate, which we do without labour or difficulty, yea with pleasure and tranquillity. 

    But to be inebriated is to contemplate so frequently and so ardently as to be quite out of self to be wholly in God. O holy and sacred inebriation, which, contrarily to corporal inebriation, does not alienate us from the spiritual sense, but from the corporal senses; does not dull or besot us, but angelicizes and in a sort deifies us; putting us out of ourselves, not to abase us and rank us with beasts, as terrestrial drunkenness does, but to raise us above ourselves and range us with angels, so that we may live more in God than in ourselves, being attentive to and occupied in seeing his beauty and being united to his goodness by love! 

--St. Francis de Sales,
Treatise on the Love of God,
Book VI, chapter 6 

Source of images: Bernini, Ecstasy of St. Teresa (1652), https://news.artnet.com/art-world/bernini-the-ecstasy-of-saint-teresa-2659785
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