Stability. Walking on Water (2026-08-09, 19th Sunday)

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19th Sunday in Ordinary Time — Year A

1. Find the Fixed Point

Many years ago, I went sailing with a friend. I had been on his sailboat before, but that day his father warned me there would be three-to-six-foot swells.

I thought, “What could go wrong?”

Well, on a small sailboat, three-to-six-foot swells (wave height) are enough to make things pretty unstable. And I started getting seasick.

My friend taught me something. Your instinct might be to go below deck, but that can make things worse. Instead, if you can, stay above deck and focus on something stable on the horizon—an island, the shoreline, something that isn't moving.

And it actually helped.

Peter is surrounded by wind and waves. Everything around him is moving. But there is one fixed point in front of him:  Jesus. And Jesus says: “Come.”

2. Responding to “Come”

Peter comes.

Think about a crossing guard. When the crossing guard tells us, “Go ahead,” we trust the instruction. But we also expect the drivers around us to cooperate.

Peter gets no such guarantee.

Jesus says, “Come,” but the wind keeps blowing and the waves keep moving.

Sometimes following Christ is like that.

Christ may call us to forgive when we cannot control the other person's response. He may call us to admit we were wrong when we don't know what will happen afterward. He may call us simply to remain faithful when others are not.

We cannot control everything around us. We can respond when Christ says, “Come.”

Peter makes a decision—a resolution—to follow Christ.

But today's Gospel teaches us something important:

A good resolution is not enough by itself.

On that sailboat, I could have resolved, “I am not going to get seasick!” But determination alone wasn't enough. I needed something stable outside myself on which to focus.

Peter needs the same thing.

3. Listening Through the Wind

Peter begins by focusing on Jesus.

Then he notices the wind.

And he begins to sink.

Elijah experiences something similar in our first reading. There is a powerful wind, an earthquake, and fire. But God is not found in all that noise. Elijah encounters God in the tiny whispering sound.

That's a good question for us:

What am I listening to? Where is my focus?

Fear can be loud. Anger can be loud. Resentment can be loud. Distractions can be loud.

God's grace does not always mean that the wind disappears.

Sometimes grace helps us keep turning toward Christ while the wind is still blowing.

4. “Lord, Save Me”: Grace and Cooperation

When Peter begins to sink, he doesn't say, “Lord, I walked seven steps successfully. I deserve another chance.”

He says:

“Lord, save me!”

And immediately Jesus reaches out his hand.

That's grace.

Grace is God's help enabling us to respond to him in the middle of the struggle.

Grace can be God prompting us to pause before an angry response—and we cooperate with that grace when we pause.

Grace can be God reminding us of the humility to apologize after we fail—and we cooperate when we make the apology.

Grace can be God awakening in us the courage to begin again when we are discouraged—and we cooperate when we take that next step.

Grace comes from God. We receive God's help, and we cooperate with it.

Peter still has to step out of the boat. We still have to forgive, apologize, pray, and begin again.

But we don't do it by our strength alone.

5. Allowing Christ to Reach Us

This also gives us a way to understand Confession.

Sometimes after we fail, we think we have to earn our way back to God.

But Peter doesn't save himself by walking better.

Jesus reaches out his hand.

Confession is one place where we can say with Peter:

“Lord, save me.”

We tell the truth about our sins, receive absolution, and allow Christ to reach toward us through the sacramental ministry of the Church.

The priest needs mercy too. The power of the sacrament doesn't come from the priest's personal holiness.

It comes from Christ.

6. Grace Can Change Us

And sometimes what makes us unstable isn't wind or water. It's another person.

One of my mentors once gave me a simple spiritual practice when I was complaining about someone.

He said: write the person's name—or just the initials—on a piece of paper and put it in your wallet. Whenever you see it, let it remind you to pray for that person.

I've done that more than once.

And one time, several weeks later, I pulled out that piece of paper, looked at the name and thought:

“I forgot why I'm mad at you.”

The other person hadn't necessarily changed.

But something had changed in me.

We cannot manufacture another person's conversion. We cannot control another person's heart.

But we can pray for them. We can place them in God's hands. And when God gives us the grace to become more patient, more forgiving, or less resentful, we can cooperate with that grace.

7. Keep Your Eyes on Christ

So perhaps the resolution today isn't simply:

“I will try harder.”

Maybe it is:

Lord, help me keep my eyes on you.
When you say, “Come,” help me respond.
When the wind is blowing, give me grace.
When I begin to sink, save me.
And when other people make life unstable, help me place them in your hands.

The wind will not always stop.

Other people will not always cooperate.

Our own resolutions will sometimes fail.

But there is still a fixed point.

Our resolutions matter.
Our response matters.
Our cooperation with God's grace matters.

But grace comes first.

And when everything else seems to be moving, keep your eyes on Christ.

Because ultimately, it is Christ who saves.