XIX. O.T.1 Kgs. 19:9, 11-13; Rom. 9:1-5; Mt. 14:22-33

"Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."  

Fear is something every human being experiences in one’s life. No one is free from it. Fear goes all the way back to the beginning of time. To be human is to experience fear.

In the story of creation found in the Book of Genesis, we read where Adam and Eve had partaken of the forbidden fruit, something which had been specifically denied them. Knowing that God is searching for them, they attempt to hide. It is a scene perhaps reminiscent of many of our childhoods when we had done something that we were not supposed to and we literally hid from our searching parents. Finally God finds them, as we know that He will, for, after all, where can we go to hide from God? God asked Adam and Eve why they were hiding. And the response that Adam gave was: "Because, I was afraid"

There seems to be no limit to our fears. In a peanuts cartoon strip Charlie Brown goes to Lucy for a nickels worth of psychiatric help. She proceeds to pinpoint his particular 'fear'. Perhaps, she says, you have hypengyophobia, which is the fear of responsibility. Charlie Brown says no. Well, perhaps you have ailurophobia, which is the fear of cats. No. Well, maybe you have climacophobia, which is the fear of staircases. No. Exasperated, Lucy says well, maybe you have pantophobia, which is the fear of everything. Yes, says Charles, that is the one!

 Sometimes we feel like we are afraid of everything. We are afraid of ourselves. We are afraid of people. We are afraid of the future. We are afraid of the past. We are afraid of life. We are afraid of death.  Every person, every Christian, must fight their own fears.  And so, scripture scholars say we can find in the Bible, 365 times God assuring man “do not be afraid”; meaning he says every day of the year to us, do not be afraid.

Matthew recorded his Gospel after Peter was crucified, when the Christians were being persecuted. The storm story address issues of danger, fear and Faith.  The boat seems to represent the Church, buffeted by temptations, trials and persecutions.  Jesus appears as the Church's champion, strong to save those who call on him in faith. The recounting of this episode probably brought great comfort to the early Christians, especially those of Matthew’s faith community. For it offered them the assurance that Christ would save them even if they had to die for their faith in him, and that, even in the midst of persecution, they need not fear because Jesus was present with them.  The episode offers the same reassurance to us in times of illness, death, persecution, or other troubles.  It teaches us that adversity is not a sign of God's displeasure, nor prosperity a sign of His pleasure, that illness is not a sign of inadequate Faith, nor health a sign of great Faith. Paradoxically, the storms of life can be a means of blessing.  When things are going badly, our hearts are more receptive to Jesus. When peter was sinking he called out to Jesus and Jesus stretching his hand out saved him.  A broken heart is often a door through which Christ can find entry.  He still comes to us in the midst of our troubles, saying, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."

In the first reading frightened Prophet Elijah was running away from queen Jezebel who swore to do away with Elijah for killing the prophets of Baal. As a punishment for the sins of the king and his people, the prophet announced a terrible drought. It lasted for three and a half years causing famine everywhere. Fearing for
his life, he called upon the Lord to save him. And God gave him the assurance of His help by showing Elijah His presence in the whispering sound of the breeze. Whenever we call upon God, He is beside us to help us. But often we fail to recognize God’s hand in those excruciating events.

Church history shows us how Jesus saved his Church from the storms of persecution in the first three centuries, from the storms of heresies in the 5th and sixth centuries, from the storms of moral degradation and the Protestant reformation movement in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is the presence of Jesus which gives us peace even in the wildest storms of life: storms of sorrow, doubt, tension, worries, despair, and temptations. Jesus may sometimes seem to be sleeping in the boat of our life, but when we call out to him to save us he will “wake” up to help us in our need.

If Peter, a Galilean fisherman could do the impossible, could walk on water at Jesus’ word, we too can walk on any negative, drowning and debilitating things in our life. When Jesus comes to us in the Holy Communion, let’s too ask him to help us overcome every fear in our life and with Paul we may be able to say: I can do everything in Him who strengthens me”.