Неделя девятая по Пятидесятнице

(1 Cor. 3, 9–17; Matt. 14, 22–34) St. Apostle Peter, with the permission of the Lord, leaves the ship and walks on the water; then he gives in to the movement of fear and begins to drown. The fact that he decided to do such an extraordinary thing, trusting in the Lord, does not represent anything reproachful, for otherwise the Lord would not have allowed him to do so; it is reproachful that he could not withstand the first mental order. He was filled with inspired trust in the Lord that He could do anything, and this gave him the boldness to trust himself to the waves. Several steps have already been taken along this new path: it was only necessary to become stronger in hope, looking at the Lord, Who is near, and at the experience of walking in His power, but he delved into human thoughts: “the wind is strong, the waves are great, the water is not solid”; this shook and weakened the strength of faith and hope in him. For this reason, he broke away from the hand of the Lord and, remaining devoted to the operation of the laws of nature, began to drown. The Lord reproached him: “You of little faith! Why did you doubt? (Matthew 14:31), showing that this is the whole cause of trouble. Here is a lesson for everyone who undertakes anything, great or small, to please the Lord! To preserve the first structure of faith and hope, from which great virtue is born - patience in doing good, which serves as the basis of a life pleasing to God. As long as these dispositions are preserved, until then the inspiration to work on the begun path does not go away, and obstacles, no matter how great they may be, are not noticed. When they weaken, the soul will immediately be filled with human considerations about human ways of preserving life and carrying out the affairs begun. And since these latter always turn out to be powerless, fear enters the soul of what to do; hence the hesitation as to whether to continue, and, finally, a complete reversal. It should be like this: start - hold on; Drive away confusing thoughts, but take heart in the Lord, Who is near. You might be interested in: