1 Kings 19:9, 11-13/ Romans 9:1-5/ Matthew 6:41-51
Last week, I made a discovery, although it was not that fantastic a discovery.
And that discovery came about through an advertisement – it was an advertisement for mooncakes.
When I saw the advertisement on the papers, I thought to myself – Oh it’s time for mooncakes and those little piglets.
But then I remembered that before the mooncakes come in, there is something else happening before that.
Do you know what that is? Yes, it is the Chinese seventh month. Do you know when it started? Yes, last Sunday!
And along with the Chinese 7th month are the bright and loud “ge-tai”s and also the auctions. You can hear them more than a mile away.
And also there are those spooky stories, because it is the popular belief that the gates of the underworld are opened and the spirits roam the earth.
So the Chinese 7th month is also called the Hungry Ghosts Month, for whatever reason.
But it is actually a time to offer prayers for the deceased and to make other offerings for the deceased.
Also during this time, we seem to hear a bit more of those kind of spooky stories – people see white shadows or black shadows.
But let me tell you this – if you see someone, and that someone has got no shadow, then you better quickly walk away.
Better to see white shadow or black shadow than to see someone with no shadow!
Well, these so-called ghost stories always give us the creeps, and undeniably we get affected especially when we come across dark and lonely places.
Yes, those dark, lonely and deserted places are famous for those kinds of spooky appearances.
But have we ever heard of a ghost walking on water during a storm at sea?
Somehow, those conditions don’t seem right for any kind of ghostly appearances.
In the gospel, we heard that the disciples were in the boat and trying to keep afloat during the storm.
Then when Jesus came to them walking on the water, their first reaction was that they thought it was a ghost and they cried out in fear.
Why would they think it was a ghost? What made them think it was a ghost?
Well, essentially it is just one word, a 4-letter word, and it begins with “F”, but it’s not that word we might be thinking of.
The word is fear. Yes, that primal enemy of man that cripples us as human beings and as disciples of Jesus.
Fear caused chaos in the disciples as they faced the uncontrollable powers of the sea and immediately they were terrified.
In the storm, the wind, the waves, and the figure walking on the water, fear gripped them and made them think of ghosts.
In the gospel, the word “ghost” is used to mean “an apparition” (phantasma), a seeing of something unknown, something that we do not have control over.
And there are many things in life we do not have control over.
Like for e.g., we can’t control what others want to say to us, especially those sarcastic and disparaging remarks.
There was a pious woman who always took her Bible and Rosary along with her wherever she went so that she could pray.
One time, she was in a ferry when a storm began to blow up.
She took out her Bible and Rosary and began to pray.
A man who was sitting next to her looked at her and after awhile he turned to her and asked, "You don't really believe all that stuff in the Bible, do you?"
The woman replied, "Of course I do. It is the Bible."
He said, "Well, what about the guy that was swallowed by that whale?"
She replied, "Oh, Jonah. Yes, I believe that, it is in the Bible."
He asked, "Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time inside the whale?"
The woman said, "Well, I don't really know. I guess when I get to heaven, I will ask him."
"What if he isn't in heaven? What if he’s in hell?" the man asked sarcastically.
"Then you can go there and ask him," replied the woman.
The reality of life is that there are many things that we do not have control over.
And because of that, our hearts are troubled with fears, and we create the ghosts of our lives.
One ghost that will haunt us and even break us is the ghost of shame and humiliation.
A church organist was sharing with me about his experience of the first time he played for Mass, and it was just a weekday evening Mass.
To prepare for that Mass, he took the day off and practised at the organ in the morning and the afternoon.
He felt confident enough, so he decided to go for a tea-break before Mass.
He came back just in time for Mass, and when the Mass started, he began to play the opening hymn.
To his horror, the notes sounded different, sounded out of tune, and it just didn’t sound right.
The priest looked at him, the parishioners looked at him, a storm was brewing in him, he messed up his fingering, in a word it was a disaster.
And he couldn’t go on after that and he got up and left. He wished he could just disappear, evaporate or be invisible.
Well, it seemed that someone came to practice on the same organ when he took a break and adjusted a few knobs and he didn’t realize it.
It haunted him so much that he didn’t touch the organ or the next two months or so.
But as it usually happens, our greatest fears will come true, he happened to bump into the priest who celebrated that evening Mass that was his disaster.
The priest urged him to try again and give himself another chance, otherwise it was such a waste of talent.
So after some persuasion, he gave it another try and this time he was at the organ an hour before Mass, no tea-break, and just to make sure that everything was right and nobody touched the knobs.
Well, for that organist, his nightmare turned into sweet melodies for the Lord, a classical case of failure being turned into success.
He sank into shame and humiliation, but Jesus pulled him up.
Just as Peter sank, when he felt the force of the wind and took fright, but Jesus pulled him up and saved him.
Our own experiences of failure, shame and humiliation will drag us down and make us sink.
But like Peter, we just have to call out : Lord! Save me!
And Jesus will hold us by the hand as He says : Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.
For all that lies behind us and for whatever that lies ahead of us, let us be assured that Jesus is always with us.
For all our fears and failures, let us also have the faith that Jesus is with us to face it.
Not that there will be no more storms or that we won’t sink and go down into the murky darkness and even think of ghosts.
But Jesus will always be there to hold our hand and say to us: Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.