Remaining Focused on Jesus

It is easy to let the noise of everyday life pull our attention away from Jesus, but faith calls us to keep Him at the center of everything. The story of Peter walking on water shows us what happens when we shift our focus from Christ to our fears. The moment Peter looked away, he began to sink. Yet even in that moment, Jesus immediately reached out His hand and pulled him to safety. God never gives up on us, even when our faith is small. Like the prophet Elijah, who recognized God not in the storm or the earthquake but in a gentle whisper, we too must quiet ourselves enough to hear His voice. The sacraments, including the Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Adoration, are powerful tools that help us stay attuned to God. When we fix our eyes on Jesus with intention, our faith grows and our love for Him deepens. 

Transcript

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The week before last, my wife and I took our two granddaughters, ages three and seven, for a short getaway to the beach in Florida. One day while I was in the pool with the three-year-old, she was excited to put on her dinosaur floaties, and she was paddling her way towards me, and she kept coming and coming until she got literally with her face two inches from my face. And she's giving me the evil eye. I said, Ruby, what are you looking at? And she said, I'm looking at you. And before I could ask her why, the questions start coming. Papa, why do you have those big wrinkles on your forehead? I was getting ready to answer, but question two came. Papa, did you know that your eyebrows are turning gray just like your hair? Number three. Papa, why do you have those puffy bags of air under your eyes? And my favorite. She grabs my neck and she says, Papa, why do you have that jiggly skin hanging from your chin? And I thought to myself, I will never bring this kid to Florida again. I share this story with you because our gospel today reminds us that as people of faith, you and I, in a sense, have to be like Ruby, but we have to be laser-focused, intently focused with our eyes, our mind, and our heart on Jesus. If we are to truly experience life-changing encounters with Christ, we have to stay focused on him. If Peter had stayed focused on Jesus when he was walking on the water toward Jesus, if he would have trusted and kept his eyes on the Lord, he would not have become overcome with doubt and fear, and he would not have begun to sink. And I think most of us can kind of relate to Peter. At times, Peter was laser focused on Jesus. He was listening, he was understanding, but at other times Peter seemed totally oblivious to what Jesus was trying to teach him. We also know that at times Peter was willing to protect and defend Jesus, but at other times Peter denied even knowing who he was. Fortunately for Peter and for us, Jesus understands our faults, our failings, our shortcomings, and even our lack of faith. Yet he never ever gives up on us. Despite our failings and despite our little faith at times, Jesus wants us to continually seek him out. He wants us to listen to him. He wants us to trust him. Because unless we seek him, find him, listen to him, and trust him, it will be very difficult for us to truly have a life-changing encounter with him. But when those encounters happen, when we're focused on the Lord that intently, we will come to know him and love him and discern his will for us in this life. And even if at times we tend to drift away from the Lord, he never drifts away from us. He continually pursues us. And he is always speaking to us in various ways, and he speaks to us often through various people. But we have to be attuned to his voice to be able to recognize it. We have to be laser focused on him. He has to be the center, the priority, and the summit of our lives. And sometimes we'll fail, like Peter did. But to Peter's credit, he kept trying. And that's what God is asking us to do. Because his love for us is greater than all of our weaknesses and our faults and our lack of faith. When we fail to recognize him, and even those times when we purposely choose not to listen to him, he extends his hand to us just as he did to Peter. You know, when Jesus commanded Peter to come to him and walk on the water, Peter actually listened and he obeyed, and he was walking on the water. But Peter's doubt was greater than his faith. And the minute he took his eyes off the Lord is when he began to sink. Still, Jesus remained faithful. Our God is faithful, our God is not fickle. He is jealous. He wants all of us. He wants us to put him first. But he never gives up and he never abandons us. And just like the Lord extended his hand to Peter and grabbed him out of the water and pulled Peter to himself, he will do that to each one of us. And he has done it for each one of us. The question is: have we been aware of it? Have we recognized it? In the first reading today, we hear about Elijah. Now here's a man who was very attuned to God. He lived his life awaiting the word of God to proclaim to the people. The people didn't like what he was proclaiming, and they were going after him. And the Lord instructed him to find safety in this cave, and Elijah listened and obeyed. But the Lord told him, he said, Now look, soon I'm going to be passing by. And you need to tend to me. And Elijah heard that. And then we hear in the reading a strong storm developed, strong winds. Elijah didn't budge from the cave. And then an earthquake. Elijah stayed put. And then a fire. Elijah stayed. Elijah was so focused on God that he knew that day that the Lord was not in the wind or in the earthquake or in the fire. And he wasn't deterred by those events. Elijah remained faithful and he waited. And then Elijah heard a tiny whispering sound. And recognized the Lord in the tiny whispering sound. And that's when Elijah went out to meet the Lord. At times in our life, you and I are like Elijah. At other times, we're like Peter. But although Jesus told Peter, take courage, don't be afraid, it is I. Peter, being Peter, doubted. His faith in Jesus' words was little. But even though his faith was little at the moment, it was enough to prompt Peter to call out to Jesus, Lord, save me. And Jesus did what he always does. He responds with compassion and love and forgiveness. As Catholics, you and I are grateful because we have a church that helps us stay attuned to the voice and the promptings of God. When you and I avail ourselves of the sacraments of the church, we are developing our fine-tuning radar to know Jesus. When we receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, we become one with Him. When we confess our sins with a contrite heart in the sacrament of reconciliation, we get to feel the embrace of love and compassion and forgiveness of the Lord. When we spend time in adoration, we are in the presence of the Lord. These are ways that we can come to find Him, to hear Him, to listen and to understand Him. And those are the times that are building us up for the life-changing encounters with Him. When we focus intently on the Lord, as my little one did to me, our faith is magnified. And when that happens, our love for the Lord will blossom. God bless you.