Project BLACK MAMBA: XIX Sunday in Ordinary Time

'Tis the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The First Book of Kings, chapter nineteen, verses nine(a), eleven, twelve, & thirteen(a);
Psalm Eighty-five, verses nine & ten, eleven & twelve, thirteen & fourteen;
The Letter to the Romans, chapter nine, verses one thru five;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter fourteen, verses twenty-two thru thirty-three.

Commentary: Video Gospel reflection by Jeff Cavins: Encountering the Word.

Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, in today's Gospel Jesus comes to his disciples walking on the sea. And he came at the darkest time of the night when they found themselves isolated and in danger.

God's mastery of the sea is a Biblical commonplace. The spirit of the Lord hovered over the surface of the waters in Genesis; in Exodus, God splits the Red Sea in two. In the book of the prophet Isaiah, God is described as having conquered the monsters of the deep.

The water—especially the stormy water—represents all of the cosmic powers that oppose themselves to God, all those spiritual and physical forces that threaten the Church, most especially death itself. In walking on the water, Jesus shows that he is the master of all of these forces, that his power and authority are greater.

Paul says, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." John says concerning Christ, "I have conquered the world."

And so Jesus comes to his Church precisely when it is threatened. "Behold, I am with you always, even until the close of the age." The Lord accompanies his Church, coming to it and subduing the evil forces that surround it.

Mass Journal: Week 33
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:

I believe there is a direct relationship between happiness & holiness. This was my first serious observation of the Christian life as a teenager. I must also confess it was the reason I first began to explore Catholicism seriously. As simple as it may sound, I was aware of my uearning for happiness. I had tried to satisfy this yearning in other ways & had been left wanting. I had witnessed a peace & purpose in the lives of a handful of people I knew who were striving to live their faith, & I knew they had something I was yearning for. God calls each of us to holiness. He invites us to be truly ourselves. This call to holiness is in response to our deep desire for happiness. We cry out to God, saying, Show us how to find the happiness our hearts are hungry for, & God replies, Walk with me, be all I created you to be, become the best-version-of-yourself. It is a natural & logical conclusion that we will never find happiness if we are not ourselves.

Otherwise, 13 August would be the festival of Saints Pontian, Pope, & Hippolytus, Priest, Martyrs (died 235), eighteenth Bishop & Rome & first antipope, martyred in the reign of the emperor Maximinus Thrax: Martyr-link Papa & Wikipedia-link Papa, Martyr-link Hotel & Wikipedia-link Hotel, & Martyrs-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Maximus the Confessor, Abbot (circa 580-662): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the festival of Blessed Jakob Gapp, Priest & Martyr (1897-1943), martyred in the reign of the Führer Adolf Hitler: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.