There was great calm
Published Jun 28, 2022 12:05 am
REFLECTIONS TODAY
MATTHEW 8:23-27
The boat of the disciples is often taken as a metaphor, an image of the Church that sails through the turbulent waters of life. The storm can stand for the antagonism and persecution of the believers. Or it can also be a deceptive and interior storm in the form of sin, weakness, and fear that can drown the disciples. In uncertainties and confusion, we believers may feel that the Lord Jesus is “asleep” or far away. And like the disciples, we also cry out, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
Pope Francis has compared our experience of the Covid-19 pandemic with the disciples’ experience with the storm. We have found ourselves afraid and lost, like the disciples caught off guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm.
Like them, we too have found it hard to understand Jesus’ attitude: he is asleep and needs to be awakened. He wakes up and reproves the disciples for their lack of faith. He is always there with them, and so they have nothing to fear.
Like the disciples — Pope Francis adds — we will experience that with Jesus on board our ship there will be no shipwreck. Because this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies.
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
MATTHEW 8:23-27
The boat of the disciples is often taken as a metaphor, an image of the Church that sails through the turbulent waters of life. The storm can stand for the antagonism and persecution of the believers. Or it can also be a deceptive and interior storm in the form of sin, weakness, and fear that can drown the disciples. In uncertainties and confusion, we believers may feel that the Lord Jesus is “asleep” or far away. And like the disciples, we also cry out, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
Pope Francis has compared our experience of the Covid-19 pandemic with the disciples’ experience with the storm. We have found ourselves afraid and lost, like the disciples caught off guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm.
Like them, we too have found it hard to understand Jesus’ attitude: he is asleep and needs to be awakened. He wakes up and reproves the disciples for their lack of faith. He is always there with them, and so they have nothing to fear.
Like the disciples — Pope Francis adds — we will experience that with Jesus on board our ship there will be no shipwreck. Because this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies.
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.