Cycle B - Year I:

21 June 2015: Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Liturgical color: Green)

Mark 4:35-41


The Lord calms our life's storms!


Scientists and experts warn about devastating effects of global warming and climate change in the form of environmental catastrophes, like very powerful storms. Also in our personal lives, we encounter numerous "storms" of life -- troubles, accidents, illnesses, and other most trying moments. How do we deal with these storms?

Some helpful tips may be found in the Gospel narratives for this Sunday. Let us examine them.

St. Mark wrote that as evening approaches, Jesus embarks in a boat and asks his disciples to "cross to the other side" of the shore. But while they were in the waters, a violent storm came up and their boat was at its breaking point due to the very strong waves filling up the boat.

All this time Jesus was in the stern, soundly asleep on a cushion. The disciples woke him up and said, "Teacher, do you not care not we are perishing?"

So Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" And lo the wind and the

sea obeyed him and there was great calm. Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?"

Jesus' calming the storm and the sea is unmistakably a miracle, but let us look at it beyond just a mere natural physical feat, and reflect on the spiritual insights in our own encounter with Christ as we navigate the various circumstances of our lives.

Our first reflection is to realize that Jesus never promises us a life free of storm, but that he will walk with us through them. Remember that Jesus himself has his cross and suffering, so why should his followers expect a different path in following him?  In the song, or poem, "Footprints in the sand", Jesus says that during good times there are clearly two sets of footprints in the sand as he walks with us to celebrate life. But as the walk becomes more difficult and challenging there is only one set of footprints in the sand of life, because the Lord carries us through during these most trying times in our life. Trust in God's abiding presence in our lives allows us to transcend our difficulties and challenges, no matter how big and seemingly un-surmountable. It is Jesus who gives us peace in our sorrows, our problems and anxieties. His grace reigns in our hearts as our faith in the Lord increases.

The second point in our reflection is to understand that Christ may allow us, sometimes, to experience the storms of life in order to draw us into deeper faith and trust in him. He encourages us to conquer our fears and anxieties with faith in him. So that when sometimes we find ourselves in the eye of a storm, when life turns turbulent, the image of Jesus calming the storm at sea should inspire us to entrust our fate in his caring and loving hands. And believe that the Lord is never outdone by seemingly hopeless circumstances that we can encounter in this life. Therefore we must keep faith and trust that our Lord Jesus Christ stays with us and guides us safely through every storm in this life.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!