The apostles were fishermen and quite used to the sea of Galilee but they did not expect such a “great storm” nor did they expect to find the Lord sleeping in the bow of the boat. When you are faced with imminent death do you sleep? What kind of situation would cause the Lord to react by sleeping? It is a test of the human spirit. These men had seen the transformation of water into wine; they witnessed the boy raised to good health; they saw miracles happening to the sick. Now they sought from a sleeping Master, the solution to a storm. In every crisis there is a meaning and an opportunity and so let us dig a little more deeply into this miracle of the storm.
First, one must recognize that worried people do not sleep. The disciples slept on the night of the Lord’s betrayal. They did not think anything could happen to Jesus. Here Jesus sleeps and while He sleeps His providence causes not a little storm but a “great” storm. Now the apostles are worried to death but Jesus has nothing more to do than sleep.
Second, waves are crashing over the ship. The ship theme is always exposing the Church and its path through the world. There will come a time when the Lord’s sleeping allows for the devil’s waves of confusion and disorder to crash upon the deck of the ship. Is this what causes our Lord to worry? Not a bit. His action reminds us that the providence of God rules the world and what is needed today more than ever is knowledge of our Faith.
Third, o ye of little faith, why is there so much concern today with the lack of love of God. People have cried out in various passions for the presence of God. In one of the executions in a prison camp, the cry came out “Where is God?” One of the prisoners with faith responded: “There he is on the gallow!” Now let us discover the opportunity we have with the world, the flesh and the devil pulling out all the stops. Yes, we all know of the tsunami of evil that is crushing the ship of the Church. We can name the sins that cry out to God for vengeance (i.e. abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia…). There is no mystery about them but what should we do? Should we run to the bow of the ship and wake up Jesus? Or should we exercise our faith and cry out “Begone Satan.”
Culture changes due to three particular acts. In the first place a great man can start a new movement and give new enthusiasm to the masses. Such a person was our Lord. Ghandi sought to imitate Jesus and India was better through Ghandi’s use of non-violence. So a great leader can turn society around. Second, a great movement can turn the world upside down as the apostles did by preaching the message of Jesus and working miracles. Finally, society can be changed by a great cataclysm. An event can take on world wide change such as the end of the Roman empire. St. Jerome, while writing in a cave, thought that the world was about to end. One of these three is about to end this period of history and force us into the sixth age described in the Book of Revelations.
Fortunately, we have the teaching of the Mystical Body of all times to guide us and to foster our faith in our Lord. Greater is He Who is in thee than he who is in the world. We will conquer and the faith will out. The outcome is assured: “In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph”. So despite the overwhelming presence of the great storm there is a great victory around the corner. Note how from a great storm there is born a great calm. So brothers and sisters keep your eyes fixed on our Lady and patiently wait for the era that will be the greatest blessing the world has ever known.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Voigt
P.S. Your life insurance is the daily prayer of the rosary. Do not forget to pray it well.
Comments are closed.