OT XII [B] SUNDAY: Job 38:1, 8-11; II Cor 5:14-17; Mk 4:35-41

The role of God in calming the storms of life is the central theme of the readings for this Storm Sunday. The first reading tells us how the Lord speaks to Job whose life was devastated by storms of the total loss of his possessions, the deaths of his dear ones, and a whole-body disease that left him in misery. It also states that, although the wicked prosper and the innocent suffer for a time, YAHWEH finally redresses the wrongs suffered by the innocent!

Throughout Mark’s Gospel, Jesus works miracles as a sign of head-on engagement with the forces of sin and evil in this world. In the miracle stories, Jesus’ unequivocal triumph over these forces verifies His true identity as the Messiah of God. The miracle of the stilling of the sea is described in Mark for the same purpose. By describing this miracle, Mark also assures the first-century believers that nothing can harm the Church as long as the risen Lord is with them. Mark’s audience in Rome in the 60s A.D. surely felt that way as they faced the persecution by the Emperor Nero during which both Peter and Paul were probably martyred.

Many of the Fathers of the Church consider this miracle story as an allegory of the early Church. The ocean, in the Old Testament, because of its mystery, power, and unpredictability, was often used as a symbol for evil and chaos. The boat in the stormy lake is a symbol of the Church facing challenges and heresies from inside and various forms of suppression and persecution from outside. The early Church faced fierce persecution in the first three centuries. It was followed by a calm period, but that period was plagued with heresies, as many as 22 heresies, culminating in the Protestant Reformation Movement. The faithful in such situations wondered if Jesus had deserted the Church. But in their desperate cry for help they were able to experience the inner peace and strength of Jesus.   Very often the Church and the faithful have no control over the political and social developments of our society. But, no matter what we are experiencing, we can — with the help of Jesus — find peace. It is the peace which only Jesus can give. And it is a peace which no person, no thing, and no situation can take away from us.

 

We need to remember that Jesus is always with us in the boat of our life. All of us are making a journey across the sea of time to the shore of eternity. Hence, it is natural that, occasionally, we all experience different types of violent storms in our lives: physical storms, emotional storms, and spiritual storms. We face storms of sorrow, doubt, anxiety, worry, temptation and passion. The storms we encounter in life are often what make us or break us. These storms can either bring us closer to God and one another or alienate us from God and others. And it is only Jesus who can still these storms for us. Jesus can give us real peace in the storm of sorrow.

Victor Hugo, who is famous for his novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, also wrote a story called “Ninety-Three.” It tells of a ship caught in a dangerous storm on the high seas. At the height of the storm, the frightened sailors heard a terrible crashing noise below the deck. They knew at once that this new noise came from a cannon, part of the ship’s cargo, that had broken loose. It was moving back and forth with the swaying of the ship, crashing into the side of the ship with terrible impact. Knowing that it could cause the ship to sink, two brave sailors volunteered to make the dangerous attempt to retie the loose cannon. They knew the danger of a shipwreck from the cannon was greater than the fury of the storm. — That is like human life. Storms of life may blow about us, but it is not these exterior storms that pose the gravest danger. It is the terrible corruption that can exist within us which can overwhelm us. The furious storm outside may be overwhelming, but what is going on inside can pose the greater threat to our lives. Our only hope lies in conquering that wild enemy: the fear, the fear of the uncertain. Fear comes from lack of faith. Unfortunately storms that rage within us we cannot cure by ourselves. It takes the power of God’s love, as revealed in Jesus Christ. He is our only hope of stilling the tempest that can harm our souls and cripple our lives. That’s what the disciples learned this day on the Sea of Galilee.

 

Every week during the Mass we pray the Creed. The Creed sums up what we believe as Christians, what the Church teaches, what God has revealed to the world about Himself and the purpose of our lives. Unfortunately, most of us have become so used to the Creed that we often fail to savor the delicious truths that it contains.

We pray: "We believe in one God, the Father almighty." Almighty is a synonym for all-powerful, omnipotent. That's our Lord; he alone is all-powerful; nothing is difficult for him. When we are threatened by storms of life let’s affirm our faith in the Lord who calmed the storm for the apostles. Let’s wake up the Lord who seems to be sleeping in the boat of our life and ask him to save our life and strengthen our faith in him.