Jesus Walks On Water

Once you get over the video, in which rich sybarite hippies rip-off someone's pricey sailboat, consider this.

When Christ walks on the water He proves His divinity. The Word who spoke creation into being has power over its elements. And the mystical meaning?

The faithful, in the ark of salvation, set sail on the waters of the world as Our Lord ascends the mountain to commune with the Father. In the evening of the day, after many centuries, tempest threatens to overwhelm the Church. But Christ, appearing in the 4th Watch, at the very end of time, stills the storm and rescues the faithful, taking them to the other side of the turbulent sea, to Paradise.

And the moral meaning?

The ship of the soul, endowed by Christ with virtues and graces, signified by the disciples, sets out over the waters of creation while He is in Heaven with the Father. In the evening of the day, as life progresses towards its end, trials and tumults, storms, threaten to swamp the soul but at the final moment, in the 4th Watch, the Judgement, Jesus returns and stills the storm, leading the faithful soul to safety.

So the Gospel does at least three things. Reinforce or prove the divinity of Christ and show the timorous Christian that not only does He have the ship of the Church in hand but also the soul. 

Both will reach the other side of the sea, regardless of the storm. But what about Peter, does he act as a focus or summation of the literal and mystical meaning of the miracle. It seems that he does.

Peter stands for the literal. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," he says in his confession of faith; He is the rock, accordingly, on which the ship of the Church is founded. As such, he is the faithful soul who goes out to meet Christ across the waves. And when he sinks under their tumult, as we all do, Jesus takes him by the hand and rescues him from the tempest.

Lord save me! cries Peter. 

I cannot think of a better prayer.

God bless,

LSP