19th Sunday Ordinary Time August 9, 2026

Readings:1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:22-33

Most of us who hear homilies or read them are people are trying to serve the Lord. We know that sometimes all we can do is try! There is no way in which we can claim to have given our lives over 100% to God and to His holy will—even though we may have that desire very deep within us. The real test is always when storms come into our lives: what do we do and how do we do it? Elijah the Prophet had finally to realize that God is always present and that he can listen to God when he is still and quiet. Storms often distract us. Often in storms we are only seeking to find a place of safety, rather than seeing the presence of the living God in what is happening around us.

The disciples in the Gospel from of Saint Matthew which we have heard today do not pay attention to their faith but react only to the human danger around them. Is that not just the same thing that we do all too often? Our hearts don’t just automatically turn to God in every challenging situation. Instead, we must turn our hearts to the Lord. We can think of Saint Paul in the second reading, especially when he is willing die for his own people. Are we ready to die? Are we ready to give our lives for others?

Today we are invited to learn to be still in every situation, no matter what storms are happening around us. We are invited in that stillness to turn to the Lord and to call on His holy name! We say that we believe in God, so let us practice that belief each day. We practice by living in our daily lives the actions which express the beliefs about which we can talk so easily: love, joy, peace, patience, etc. Let us give thanks to the God who has called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. May we all come to know the divine and healing presence of the Lord.