Tuesday of the 18th week in ordinary time year A
Numbers 12:1-13 Mat. 14:22-36
Theme: A great intercessor
Today the church celebrates the Memorial of St. Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Dominicans, also known as the order of preachers. In the 1st reading of today from the Book of Numbers, we see how selfless Moses is once again. In his journey with the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land, each time the people encountered difficulties they will blame him for bringing them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. However, each time God gets angry and wants to punish them for their actions, he will always come forward to plead on their behalf before God. We also see a similar scenario in the 1st reading of today, Miriam and Aaron are not comfortable with the fact that it is only Moses that God is speaking to directly, why not them too? They fail to understand the fact that it is God that decides who he wants to use, and his decision cannot be influenced by anyone or subject to the judgement of anyone.
Their action greatly angered God, and at the end, Miriam was struck with leprosy. As usual, it is the same Moses that came forward to plead with God for mercy and her restoration. He did not hold back because of the attack he received from both Miriam and Aaron, he was more concerned that God should show them mercy and restore her back to health. One thing that is obvious when we deal with God, is that we must learn to follow according to his direction and not what we want. God has reason for every decision that he takes concerning us as his children, and he will always go for what is best for us. Let us learn to trust in him and be content with whatever he gives to us at any point in time in our journey of faith. Remember also that his ways are different from our human ways, and he means well for all of us.
In the gospel reading of today, after Jesus was done attending to the needs of the people, he went up into the hills alone to pray. He needed to go and commune with his father. I think we have something to learn from this action of Jesus, he knew it was necessary to refill himself again, after giving so much to the people. This simply shows that we cannot be too busy and have no time to pray. Jesus was very busy attending to the needs of the people, but he always found time to go and commune with his heavenly father. Prayer is a necessity, and we must always find time to pray. Never get too busy, such that you have no time to communicate with the owner of the vineyard.
Peter walks on the sea at the command of Jesus, until he allowed fear to come into him, he cried out and Jesus rescued him. Faith in God is a necessity in our lives. May the Lord bless his words in our hearts in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Peace be with you.