Talents, Trepidation, Walking on Water (2020-08-09, Sunday-19)

 2020-08-09 _ 19^th Sunday

● 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a ● Psalm 85 ● Romans 9:1-5 ● + Matthew 14:22-33  ●

 [_01_]    Peter gets a bad rap, for the times he doubted Jesus.

Peter gets a bad rap – despite his jumping feet first into the water – and walking a bit – he then becomes scared by the waves and sinks.

Peter gets a bad rap – for “sinking with his faith and sinking with his feet” but the fact that he  jumps feet first shows a level of action not taken by any other Apostle. None of them is itching to exit the little cruise ship or take off his  lifejacket. Peter did all of this, of course, without a life jacket. Do not try this at home!

 [_02_]        As a young person, I learned you could get the really cool summer job of being a lifeguard if you took the more advanced swimming lessons and life-saving classes. Though I never became a lifeguard, I did take some of the classes.

 

[_03_]   In one class, you had to  come to class with all your regular street clothes, plus shoes and socks and wearing all of this, jump feet first into the swimming pool – intentionally – fully clothed and then figure out how to survive …. There is a technique to it …I am not sure that I could reproduce it today.

          But, suffice it to say, we were also going feet first and then  figuring it out along the way.  Every item of clothing was going to be part of survival… nothing was going to be wasted. Some this you could not learn in a book !

Peter as an apostle was also learning “on the job”…. “in the field”..or in his case, “in the lake.”

 

 [_04_]    You and I are also wearing many layers. We may struggle to figure out what to do with them.

          I’d like to touch on these layers and how they might affect us. We may not need all of them to survive.

          Nevertheless, knowing what they are could be helpful.

[_05_]     1^st. There are layers of TALENT in all of us.

          We all have TALENTS, GIFTS.

          Sure, it’s good to be humble not to be too boastful or overestimate ourselves …it’s good not to be too demanding of other people and their capabilities.

          On the other hand, truth about our TALENTS is also important and recognition that they are God-given is important.

Sometimes, we constantly demean or degrade or refuse to accept or use our actual God-given gifts. Or, we do not expect the best of ourselves.  (Reference: Dietrich Von Hildebrand, Transformation in Christ (1940), “Ch. 1 The Readiness to Change”, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990, p. 23)

Or, we do not expect too much of others due to a prior disappointment.

          So, we need TRUTH and TRUTHFULNESS regarding our talents and how to use them. We can falsely underestimate what we or others can do.

          Talent is a layer, do not lose sight of it.

          Also, we pray to God that we may understand our talents and those others.

[_06_]        2^nd. There are layers of TREPIDATION (or layers of FEAR), in all of us.

          Sometimes, the right type of foresight and judgment can really keep us out of trouble.

          But…too much FEAR or TREPIDATION and we do not do anything.

[_07_]     These layers can also get in the way of really seeking FORGIVENESS and being REPENTANT of our FAULTS and SINS.

[_08]     2^nd.  The idea

of REPENTING of our SINS may not fit in with our human natural of idea of what it means to have “TALENTS” or what it means to have “TREPIDATIONS / FEARS”

         

[_09_]    Why would I want to repent – or admit I have done something wrong …if it is all over and done with, water under the bridge and … by the way…I am not really sure if the other person even noticed?

          Isn’t that going to harm my “talents” or reputation? Isn’t that going to be scary? Causing fear? Trepidation?

          Who wants to do that?

          You do. I do. Peter did.

 

[_10_]    1 of the reasons Jesus offers us the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation – the confessional – is because we ourselves may not instantly attain the perfection or totality of contrition internally and instantly.

          We need the covenant with God to manifested to us through the priest/pastor which helps us to say out loud – yet also privately – what we did wrong and to join that contrition to a community of believers and also to God.

          Have you not – in offering your apology to someone else – come to a new realization of sorrow for wrongdoing? In other words, our regret is no longer private but part of a community, relationship.   Similarly, coming before God, we realize that our repentance is not something purely private or solitary.

          Forgiveness does not reduce our TALENTS; forgiveness need not cause us TREPIDATION, fear.

And, when we admit our wrongdoing to a person we love as also to Jesus whom we love, it can only strengthen the relationship.

 This repentance also helps us to forgive others… to start to forgive them – is to recognize that we are all sinners, in need of being rescued, and like the bread and wine on the altar, capable of being part of the Body of Christ in the world. [_fin_]