“Fear not. For I am with you”
Job
38:1,8-11; 2 Cor 5:14-17; Mk 4:35-41 (B 12)
“Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm
again”
The history of humanity has lived through tragedies in the
violent waves in the 20th century and the dawn of the 21st. Sometimes we
irrationally ask God: “Do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk 4,38); If you
truly exist, if You are Father, why do these events occur? Confronting with the
memory of the violence of the concentration camps of World War II, Pope
Benedict asked himself: “Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How
could he permit this endless slaughter?” The Psalmist asked God: “Why do you
sleep? … Why do you hide your face; why forget our pain and misery?” (Ps
44:24-25).
We cannot expect answer from God for these questions and we
have no right to hold him accountable. In fact, God is present, and he speak
but we are not able to hear his voice. Benedict XVI said: “We cannot peer into
God’s mysterious plan - we see only piecemeal, and we would be wrong to set
ourselves up as judges of God and history. Then we would not be defending man,
but only contributing to his downfall.” Today's reading describes how Jesus
calmed a storm at sea.
One of the messages of the storm story is that we have
violent storms in the universal Church and in our life individually. The Lord
is present to his fearful and faithless disciples. He may rebuke us as he
rebuked those disciples in the boat. However, his presence to us in the storm
is not just a rebuking presence. It is ultimately a creative and life-giving
presence. Jesus brought calm out of the chaos. He controlled the storm and saw
to it that the boat reached the other side safely. The Lord remains stronger
than the storms that threaten the church, whether those storms are
self-inflicted or brought on by others or a combination of both.
Like
the apostles, we need to trust that our Lord works to bring his church to
serenity in these times of storm. Today’s responsorial psalm assures us that if
we cry to the Lord in our need, he will rescue us from our distress. Our need
and distress can open us up more fully to the Lord’s life-giving presence among
us. St Paul at the beginning of the second reading says, “the love of Christ
overwhelms us.” It is that remarkable love of God in Christ urges us on, even
when we are battling against a headwind. It urges us on until we reach “the
other side”, the place where he wants us all to be.
Fear does not need to cripple us from taking right action or
rob us of our trust and reliance on God. In fact, the problem is not that God
does not exist or that he is not here, but that we live as if God does not
exist. Here is God’s answer: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
(Mk 4:40). This is what Jesus said to the Apostles, and he said the same thing
to St. Faustina Kowalska: “My daughter, fear nothing. I
am always with you, even if it seems to you that I am not.”
Save us, Lord, we are in danger; O God, give the command,
and there will be peace (DO)
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