Jun 15, 2015
Readings:
Job 38:1, 8-11
Psalm 107:23-26, 28-31
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Mark 4:35-41
"Do you not yet have faith?" Our Lord's question in today's Gospel
frames the Sunday liturgies for the remainder of the year, which
the Church calls "Ordinary Time."
In the weeks ahead, the Church's liturgy will have us journeying
with Jesus and His disciples, reliving their experience of His
words and deeds, coming to know and believe in Him as they did.
Notice that today's Psalm almost provides an outline for the
Gospel. We sing of sailors caught in a storm; in their desperation,
they call to the Lord and He rescues them.
Mark's Gospel today also intends us to hear a strong echo of the
story of the prophet Jonah. He, too, was found asleep on a boat
when a life-threatening storm broke out that caused his fellow
travelers to pray for deliverance, and then to marvel when the
storm abated (see Jonah
1:3-16).
But Jesus is something greater than Jonah (see
Matthew 12:41). And Mark wants us to come to see what
the apostles saw - that God alone has the power to rebuke the wind
and the sea (see
Isaiah 50:2;
Psalm 18:16). This is the point of today's First
Reading.
If even the wind and sea obey Him, shouldn't we trust Him in the
chaos and storms of our own lives?
As with the apostles, the Lord has asked each of us to cross to the
other side, to leave behind our old ways to travel with Him in the
little ship of the Church.
In their fear today, they call Him, "Teacher." And it is only faith
in His teaching that can save us from perishing. We should trust in
Christ, and like Christ - who was able to sleep through the storm,
confident that God was with Him (see
Psalm 116:6;
Romans 8:31).
We should live in thanksgiving for our salvation, as today's
Epistle tells us - as new creations, no longer for ourselves but
for Him who died for our sake.