12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Mark 4:35-41

Calming the Storm

Tennessee Sunrise

I am sure that, like me, your childhood was filled with a dizzying assortment of bumps and bruises!  Maybe you fell and skinned your knee!  Maybe you ran into the door that rose up out of nowhere!  Maybe you cut yourself!  Maybe you got into a ‘disagreement' with one of your siblings and you started bleeding. 

Whatever it was, I bet Mom came to the rescue!  She comforted you til you stopped crying!  She cleaned and bandaged your wounds!  She calmed you down and told you it would all be ok!  You trusted in her nursing skills and you felt loved and cared for!  You believed she would and could make it all better.

You had faith!

And then we grew up!  And, for many of us, all we had to do was just look back on the past 9 months and wonder – I feel so alone!  We deal with illness of friends and family; we deal with emergency room visits, hospital and ICU visits and surgeries.  We face torn muscles and shredded hopes!  We face debilitating illness and extreme exhaustion!  We deal with sudden loss of loved ones and the grief that follows and stays!  We lose heart and we lose hope!

With all that life is throwing at us, it feels like a constant cycle:

Hold my breath!

Catch my breath!

Take a breath!

And we become like the Apostles in today’s Gospel, lost at sea and blasted by storms and winds!  And we lift our prayers to the Lord – Why??  Don’t You care?  Can’t You do something? 

And Jesus’ response?  Oh you of little faith!  Don’t you realize I am always with you?  Have Faith!  Believe in Me!  Didn’t your mom always comfort you and care for you?  Doesn’t she always love you and support you?  How much more so your Father in Heaven!!!

Jesus not only calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee; He calms the storm in their hearts!  He says to them – have faith!  Don’t be afraid!  I am with you always.  And if He can calm the storm of wind and rain, don’t you think He can also calm the storms inside of us.  Have faith that He is right there beside us, even in the worst of times.

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