Sunday, August 19, 2026 – Mt 14:22-33 – 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“To love is to be vulnerable.” C.S. Lewis beautifully wrote, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
If you know someone like C.S. Lewis describes, that closes themselves off to the entire world in an effort to not be hurt or to not be vulnerable, the person may end up living a dark, cold, or lonely life. To love is a beautiful and precious gift God has given to us in our very creation as his beloved children. But, to love is to be vulnerable. To love can be tough. By tough love, I mean about finding God in the pain and challenges of life. Or finding God when we doubt His plan for us.
Today’s Gospel is one of my favorite passages of Scripture and one that I took to prayer many times during six years of seminary, and still today, when facing pain, challenges and doubts in my life.
We all can identify with Peter, especially when he doubts. Peter is the Apostle that is closest to Jesus throughout his ministry, the Apostle Jesus trusts to build his Church, and the Apostle who dearly loves Jesus, yet Peter doubts. In today’s Gospel, after the danger of the waves and winds are calmed, it is Peter who has the courage to go to Jesus Christ with faith knowing all things are possible through Christ, even walking on the sea. A sign of the divinity of Christ that resides within Peter’s heart and soul. Yet, as it happens with all of us, doubt can creep into our heart and soul. Peter has doubts and he begins to sink into the sea. He cries out, “Lord, save me!” How often have you done the same – crying out “Lord, save me!” when you find yourself in doubt?
So, how do we trust through our doubts? To trust through our doubts we do need to first trust in God’s plan. Yesterday, a person who knows me well said to me, “With your chronic illness you seem to live for the present moment and not look into the future. That is such a grace from God.” I had never given that much thought, and it took me many years to get to that place mentally and spiritually, but God gave me that peace I needed to find with the uncertainty I face in my illness. But the thing is, all of us face uncertainty. All of us need to find that trust in God’s plan, even not knowing at times how that plan will unfold.
When doubts creep into my life about God’s plan or His presence in my life, I always think of Saint Mother Teresa. One of the most holy and strongest women in how she lived out God’s plan for her life. After her death, notes from her personal journals were shared. Mother Teresa wrote about the many years not being able to feel God’s presence in her life. But she knew that love is a choice and she always chose to love God. Tough to love? I imagine it was very tough for her to love God through that dark period in her life. But she wrote that she always knew God existed, even when she did not feel his presence. She knew this because of the beautiful world that was around her throughout her life. The world she dedicated herself to helping those in need. She knew that was her calling as a disciple. She trusted God through any doubts and in the end came to know His love for her closer than she could have imagined.
C.S. Lewis is right. “To love at all is to be vulnerable.” And, to “Love anything … your heart will be wrung and possibly broken” from time to time. But if you have experienced true love in your life – love of God, love of family, love of friends, love of strangers – than you know it is all worth it.
We will find times in life when it is tough to love. We will doubt in life like Peter did. But may we also love like Peter did. Love knowing that it is all worth it because the reward of God’s love in the end conquers all pain and challenges in this life. Amen.