Tuesday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Jeremiah 30:1-2,12-15,18-22 | Psalm 101:16-21,29,22-23 | Matthew 14:22-36
Like St. Peter, we often take on the task of living the Christian life with initial enthusiasm, but as soon as the ill winds of secular demands and negative influences impinge on us, we falter and drown our inner fire in the murky seas of mundane living.
What’s the solution? I think it can be summarized in one word: quiet.
When I try to focus on the day’s readings, and there’s a ruckus at the kopitiam downstairs, I’m doomed to failure.
When I’m rushing from one place to another, ears deafened by the day’s technology news, I invariably pass over the blind woman trying to make her way through the rush-hour crowd, the injured man sitting on the sidelines, the distressed child bawling for his missing mother.
When I’m in a meeting that’s not going well, it’s hard not to raise my voice, my battle instincts and my blood pressure.
But when I step away from the meeting room and slowly take a deep breath (ruach), and another, and another, I quickly find myself breathing in the calm of the Holy Spirit (ruach ha-kodesh), and I don’t feel the need to harangue others any more.
When I unplug my ears from my iPod, and start noticing the people around me, I’m more able and willing to reach out a helping hand.
When I close my study door and shut out the world around me, the Word of God quietly blossoms in my mind.
When I carve out a silent space for God to fill, He will fill it. Then, and only then, can I metaphorically walk on water, accomplishing tasks that I never thought possible…like faithfully filling this blog on a daily basis.
Then, and only then, can I say with all my heart, all my soul and all my strength:
Amen.