Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A (2026)
Sunday, August 9, 2026
Today’s Gospel is a continuation of last week’s Feeding of the Five Thousand, where the disciples wanted to dismiss the crowd, but Jesus, knowing that they were hungry, fed them, a forerunner of Holy Communion when we eat and drink of His body and blood. God always provides. After they ate, Jesus dismissed the crowd, sent the disciples on a boat, and, as He does many times in the Gospel, went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. His love for the Father drove Him to spend time with the Father, just as we desire to do with the ones we love. In today’s first reading, Elijah, exhausted and afraid, flees to a cave, collapses, and asks God to take his life. But in the midst of his loneliness, God teaches him that He does not arrive the way Elijah expects. And in the reading from Romans, Paul grieves over Israel’s unbelief, despite the extraordinary privileges God gave them, including bringing the Messiah into the world. The connecting thread is not that life becomes easy. It is that God remains present with us.
The message of today’s Gospel of walking on the water is that God wants us to have faith and trust in Him. The disciples are terrorized when their boat, a few miles offshore in the dark of night, starts to get tossed by the waves and wind hitting against it. Jesus comes to their aid walking on the water, but consumed with fear, they cry out, thinking that He is a ghost. Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” — Matthew 14:27. Notice how Peter responds: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” — v. 28. Peter does not simply calm down but receives Jesus’ words as a command that invites action. Jesus responds, “Come,” and Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking on the water toward Jesus in a great display of faith in God. However, as Peter looks at the raging sea around him and becomes frightened again, he starts to sink as his trust wanes. “Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'” v. 31. The reading ends with those in the boat worshiping Jesus and proclaiming, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” — v. 33.
When we feel fear, overwhelmed, or abandoned by God, 1 Kings teaches that God does not come to our aid spectacularly or in a dramatic way. God’s help came to Elijah, not in the wind, not in an earthquake, and not in a fire. God chose to reveal Himself to Elijah in “a light silent sound.” — 1 Kings 19:12. Just like the disciples in the boat were not in control, sometimes that happens with us, and through the chaos, we may not see clearly; we don’t see Jesus next to us. When Jesus called Peter to come to Him walking on the water, Peter did not first figure out how he could possibly do it; he simply trusted God’s word and obeyed. But as he took his eyes off Christ, he began to sink. Over and over we read in the Gospel Jesus saying, “Do not be afraid.” Pope Francis taught, “The faithful and ready response to the Lord’s call always enables one to achieve extraordinary things.” — Pope Francis, August 10, 2014. Let us choose to get out of the boat when Jesus calls us to do something extraordinary.
Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord.