Ordinary Time - Week 12b

The Calming of the Storm

(From Conversation with God, Fernandez Carvajal)

According to the Gospels, the Apostles, while sailing to the opposite shore as the Lord had told them, were twice caught by a storm on the Lake of Gennesareth. In the Gospel of today's Mass Saint Mark tells us that Jesus was with them in the boat. He used the time to rest after a hard day's preaching. He lay down in the stern, resting his head on a cushion, probably a simple, coarse leather bag stuffed with rags or wool. That was the usual thing the sailors had on these boats. How the angels in Heaven would gaze upon their King and Lord as he recovered his strength, lying upon the hard deck planking! He who governs the Universe is stretched out there exhausted!

Meanwhile his disciples, many of them sailors, begin to feel the first squalls of the gathering storm. It soon falls on them, with tremendous force, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. They did what they could, but the seas grew higher and rougher and they were about to founder. Then as a last resort they turn to Jesus. They wake him with a cry of distress. Teacher, do you not care if we perish?

The skill of those sea-hardened fishermen was not enough. Our Lord had to intervene. And He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Peace also entered the hearts of those frightened men.

Sometimes the storm arises around us or within us. And it seems that our frail craft cannot take any more. At times we have the impression that God is heedless of our fate. The waves are breaking over us: personal weaknesses, professional or financial difficulties that are beyond our management, illness, problems with children or parents, the menace of calumny, a hostile environment, slander. But if you live in the presence of God, high above the deafening storm, the sun will always be shining on you; and deep below the roaring and destructive waves, peace and calm will reign in your soul.

God will never abandon us. We must go to him, using all the means we need to employ. At all times, tell Jesus with the confidence of one who has taken him as his Master, and wants to follow him unconditionally, 'Lord, do not leave me!' And together with Him we will face up to those trials and surmount them. They will no longer be bitter, and we will not be dismayed by the storms that blow.