Being from the Caribbean my family used to go
to the beach all the time. I remember
one day, we went to a beach called Mar Chiquita, famous for its blue waters and
strong waves. For a 9 years old kit, I
was (at least I thought) a pretty good swimmer. As I was playing in the waves
with my cousins I lost my footing just long enough for the undertow to pull me
under. I do not remember how long I was tumbling under water, I do remember
that at one point I opened my eyes and the only thing I could see was blue all
around me. As I tried to swim to the surface I realized there was a lot more
water above my head than what I had originally thought. I was not scared and the
thought of drowning never crossed my mind, but I knew I could not hold my
breath for much longer.
I wish I could convey the feelings of those
few moments when my lungs were burning, and I realized that the only chance I had
to reach the surface was to swim as hard could while resigning myself to
swallow gallons of ocean water.
Today’s readings, reminded me of the
feelings of that day. You see this was the very first time in my life I felt
completely helpless, the very first time in my life I was forced to accept that
sometimes there is nothing you can do to help yourself, The very first time in
my life I was forced to accept my luck, and allow forces which I knew were much
more stronger and powerful that myself decide my destiny.
In today’s Gospel we read about a woman in
pretty much the same situation, a woman who was caught in sin, tittering between
life and death too; brought to Jesus so that He could decide if she should live
or die.
I’m willing to bet that if we were to think
about it, if we were to ask ourselves how many times have we been in the same
situation? Every one of us can recall
very easily a moment or two in our lives in which we were as powerless as this
woman. I’m also willing to bet that if
we look really hard, if we take time to examine our lives we will find that moments
like these are much more common than what we like to admit to our selves, in
fact, the reality is, that for many of us the felling that our lives are out of
control, that we are at the mercy of forces much more stronger than us is a
very real daily companion.
The child that is been bullied, the wife that
has been abandoned, the unexpected
diagnostic of a doctor, the parents
witnessing the slow self destruction of a child, the spouse confronting the
sickness or imminent death of a beloved partner, the family living with
the absence of a loved one… I could go
on and on. The point I’m trying to make is that, on the surface we might think
we can handle anything live can throw at us, but on the inside… on the inside, more
times that we like to admit, we all have felt like the poor woman of today’s
reading, like we are drowning
underwater, not able to catch our breath, not knowing where we are going to go
or what is going to happened next.
I tell you my brothers and sisters if this
were all there is to existence, life would be a horrible thing, a cruel joke.
But Christians, for the followers of Jesus there is always hope. It is when we
abandon ourselves to the mercy of God that we receive strength and consolation.
Now this is not easy, in fact it is very hard to resist the temptation to act,
to take maters into our own hands and tell ourselves “If I’m going I’m going to
go awinging!” When what we should say are the words of St Paul in the second
reading “For his sake I will accepted the loss of all things that I may gain
Christ and be found in him” This is the attitude of the mature Christian when
we are drowning in the waves of adversity.
The woman brought to Jesus encountered Gods
mercy. Perhaps she did not realized who
she was talking to, but when all other doors had close to her she found the one
person that could forgive her sin.
Many years ago, when I was ready to accept
my fate, the use the words of the first reading God “opened a path in the
mighty waters” In the last second, I felt a hand graving me and pulling me up,
It was not the hand of God, it was the hand of my uncle, who was the only
person who noticed I was missing. But this is the way God acts, by using those
closest to us, to help us, guide us and support us.
Sometimes we might feel, we are underwater,
that we have run out of options, Sometimes the only choice is to do nothing and
abandon ourselves to the mercy of God.
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