Gospel (Mk 4:35-41)

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?”

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. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

Commentary

Like the disciples, we too often find ourselves in the midst of storms. And the storms in our lives, our miseries and falls, our defeats and failures, our illness and suffering, help to highlight our vulnerability. But at the same time they reveal where we find our security.

The disciples had allowed themselves to be frightened by that storm; they were afraid. They think that Christ, even though he is with them, has abandoned them. “Do you not care if we perish?” they ask him. And he answers them: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

Faced with the storms that life presents, Christians should foster hope in the constant and effective intervention of God. That is, they need to have faith.

Our Lord asks us for an inner growth: to go from the child who complains and gets angry because it seems that his father is not paying attention, to the child who trusts, who abandons himself in his father’s arms.

The life of a Christian is like a child learning to walk. One step, then another, falling and getting up. Always under the watchful eye of his father, who encourages him and lifts him up. But his father doesn’t carry him everywhere to prevent him from ever falling.

In the storms in our own life, we have to turn to our Lord and take refuge in Him, because He is always at our side. But usually not asking that He stop the storm completely, but that He help us to grow and mature in the midst of it, and that we may help others to do so, reminding them that God never forgets us.

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