Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8, 23-27
As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying,
“Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?”
Swamped by waves
1. His disciples followed him. We Christians have a very important defect, “our memory”. Our memory is so good that it prevents us from forgetting the past of others. We want our past to be buried in the depths of the sea, like the Titanic, but we always bring to light the sin of others. God throws sin to the bottom of the sea, but there are Christians who have the gift of being “deep-sea divers”. They know how to go to the bottom of the sea of your life to find your sin and show it to the whole world. They love to look for other people’s sins. Even in the Gospel we see the Apostles who many times are presented with ‘descriptive phrases’: “Peter, who denied him”, “Magdalene, the sinner”. It’s as if we Christians always include a negative trait referring to what the person was like, but we do not see what that person was transformed into by the grace of God. For example, today we may talk about “Teresa, the gossip”, ” Martin, the lustful”. We are divers seeking labels for people, but we do not see that Jesus is the God of opportunities who always invites us to follow him.
2. Storm. We all go through storms in life and the problems will always appear to be bigger than us. That’s why when we see that everything is beyond us we look for God, but sometimes He seems to be asleep. Don’t be frightened by the problems you are going through, rather seek God and wake Him up with your prayer. Don’t be afraid to seek Him.
3. Of little faith. Don’t be afraid of the pains and troubles you must face. Instead, be afraid of the sufferings you choose. We all go through trials and situations that overwhelm us and we all feel that God is asleep at times, but those moments of trial mark a turning point. It’s like when you go through an operation, it’s painful and the doctor gives you time to rest to get over the pain – so it is with God. You can’t make the pain last any less, but you can extend it, that depends on your decision. That’s the difference between pain and suffering. We all go through pain, while you undergo suffering purely because of your own decision and because you yourself extend that pain that you’ve chosen not to let go of.
Never forget that something good is on the way.
God bless you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
