The creation story appears in the current liturgy at a time when many areas of the world suffer from too little or too much water.  Severe, millennially historical droughts are occurring in many areas, while atmospheric rivers dump multiple feet of rain on locales, causing catastrophic flooding.  In some instances, these events happen in the same area – California, for example.  Volcanoes are erupting, ice is melting, sea levels are rising.  Given what we can see on television daily, it does not take much imagination to place oneself in the time of Genesis and observe the awesome forces that coalesced dry land and the seas.

In the Matthew reading, Jesus travels around the Sea of Galilee and disembarks at various towns and villages, where He is approached by the faithful seeking His healing power.  The water of Galilee is a source of life, both physical and spiritual.  Water can be life-giving, as well as life-taking.  Water grows our crops, we use it as a surface to move people and products from one location to another, we need it daily to replenish our bodies so we can continue to live.  But water also can destroy our livelihoods, our homes, our very lives.  Water is an essential gift, but we can be harmed by it if we ignore its power, and we can harm others if we fail to take their needs into consideration and use it selfishly and wastefully.    

I like to place myself in the scene sometimes when reflecting on a reading.  I imagine being near the shore of the Sea of Galilee and hearing the waves lap gently against the shore.  I can see the surrounding green hills and fell a sense of calm.  I hear that the healer from Nazareth will soon be in our village.  He is reputed to have miraculous powers to ease our physical burdens.  I have suffered greatly from a lame arm for many years and believe He can cure me.  My neighbor also has a terrible skin affliction, but is skeptical Jesus can help him.  When I ask him to join me in going to see this prophet, he says “Touch His hem?  Bah, how can that help?  But sure, why not – after all, it can’t hurt.”  We move along with the crush of the crowd, but become separated as we approach Jesus.  The crowd pushes me away, while my friend is able to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, and he is cured of his illness.  I could not get near, and as Jesus moved away, my chance was lost.  I wonder about the fairness of this when I, and others like me, who do believe strongly, also did not get close enough to touch His robe, and so we were not cured.  Why was this skeptic cured and we were not?  I have mixed feelings.

Today also is a Memorial Day for the Jesuit martyrs in Japan.  Varying accounts indicate there were numerous Jesuit and Christian martyrs in Japan in the latter part of the 1590s.  Francis Xavier started missions in Japan in the mid 1500s with the permission of the imperial government, but by the end of the century there was significant concern by the government over foreign influences.  St. Paul Miki, along with Jesuit companions, Franciscan missionaries, and lay converts, were brutally tortured and crucified on February 5, 1597.  Over the centuries over 200 Jesuits have been martyred, including the multiple murders of both Jesuits and lay associates in El Salvador.  Their commitment, their faith, is inspirational.

Different threads today, but my prayer is for the grace to steward water and respect its power, to embrace doubt that challenges my faith, and to accept that a skeptic’s good fortune does not diminish my own gift of the love of God.