In today’s 1st reading from the prophet Jeremiah, we read two versions of prophecy. Hananiah gives false promises saying that God will break the yoke from the kingdom of Babylon and the people of Israel would therefore, be returning to their own land. Instead Jeremiah, the true prophet of God, denounced him because he lied to the people and that, within a year Hananiah will be dead, “because he has spoken rebellion against the Lord”. Today’s Gospel is the continuation of Sunday’s reading where Jesus fed the five thousand who had followed Him to a deserted place to listen to His teachings and seek healing. Jesus responded by making the five loaves and two fish available and satisfactory for their needs. This account gives a lot of messages to the early Christian community. The miracle of the loaves is also a foretaste of the banquet in heaven among those who had been worthy of the Kingdom. In addition, this also portrays Jesus as responding not only to the spiritual needs of the people but also to their physical needs. Jesus is “the Savior”. Peter at the Lord’s invitation walked on the water towards Jesus, but he was afraid and began to sink. Many commentators remark that as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk safely and unafraid. Once he became distracted by the wind, he was lost. Taking into consideration Peter’s spontaneous character, every time Peter fell, he rose again. His failures only made him love the Lord more deeply and trust him more intently. This episode can be applied to us: in life we have many different paths to walk, some of them potentially quite terrifying, but as long as they are paths that really bring us towards Jesus, no matter how unsafe or unlikely they may seem, we need not be afraid but resolutely keep our eyes on Jesus. Once we are distracted by something else, like the wind in Peter’s case, we will lose courage and confidence, and then many things will begin to seem like walking on water, utterly impossible. However, the Lord keeps watch over us at all times, and especially in our moments of temptation and difficulty. Fr. Mussie