Ye of little faith! Why did you doubt?<\/em><\/p>\nPeter had no answer. For a moment he had truly experienced the power that comes with great faith in Jesus and had let it slip away because he had given in to human fear. Faith, he had to learn, is not merely a solemn statement, nor even a careful and thoughtful decision, but a commitment that must persevere in the face of every challenge.<\/p>\n
When it was all over and they had recovered their voices, the other apostles expressed, for themselves and for all who would later come to have faith in Jesus, Truly, you are the Son of God. <\/em><\/p>\n\nJesus had not come from heaven to teach people how to walk on water, he had come to take away the sins of the world and to teach people how to live as children of God.<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
On later reflection, it would be evident to Peter and the other apostles that for them to walk on water was not important. What was important was to have a deep and persevering faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus had not come from heaven to teach people how to walk on water, he had come to take away the sins of the world and to teach people how to live as children of God.<\/p>\n
Faith when put into practice would lead one to the fullness of life Jesus had promised\u2014that of being a member of God\u2019s family both in this life and the next. Faith when put into practice would bring these same divine blessings to many others.<\/p>\n
\nLiving faith demands both wholehearted love for God and a true love for neighbour that shows itself in sincere forgiveness, compassion, justice, and concern for all people.<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In their personal response of faith, the apostles undertook to live, no longer for themselves but for him. With this commitment of faith their lives were profoundly changed because living faith demands both wholehearted love for God and a true love for neighbour that shows itself in sincere forgiveness, compassion, justice, and concern for all people.<\/p>\n
We have been called to this same faith and, apart from the question of our own happiness, much will depend on our response because the people of our time desperately need the example of lives that are deeply Christian.<\/p>\n
As we ponder the account of the time that Jesus walked across the water, our faith can be strengthened. Our faith can give us the assurance that the one who walked across the lake on a stormy night to be with his friends in their difficulty, will certainly be with us in a special way whenever we face deep pain or sorrow. We can know too that in a time of deep suffering, faith in Jesus\u2019 presence can stave off despair and bring us a profound inner peace. We can even look beyond death itself and smile in anticipation at the incredible life with God that lies ahead for all whose lives are guided by faith.<\/p>\n
Unable to go to mission in China because of World War II, Fr. Bas Kirby was assigned to the Dominican Republic in 1944. In 1953, he went to work among the poor of Guyana when Scarboro opened its mission there. From 1957 to 1969 he served in the Dominican Republic. His missionary service in Canada included work at Scarboro Missions’ Latin American Institute in St. Mary\u2019s, Ontario, then at the seminary in Scarborough, Ontario, and finally as part of the formation-education team working with Scarboro\u2019s first lay mission candidates. He also served in Society leadership as Secretary General and then as Treasurer General until his retirement in 1985. Prior to his death, Fr. Bas made his own funeral arrangements. He asked that the homily be focused not on himself, but on \u201cthe Divine generosity by which we are called to be God\u2019s adopted children.\u201d<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A reflection by Fr. Basil Kirby, S.F.M. (1917-2002) There were times when Our Lord really amazed the apostles, but everything he did and said was intended to lead them and the rest of us into a fabulous new life. On one occasion Jesus made the apostles get into their boat and cross the lake without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4893"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4893"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4903,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4893\/revisions\/4903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}