Daily Reflections

June 28, 2011
IN THE STORMS OF LIFE: FEAR OR FAITH?

The setting of today’s Gospel episode should be quite easy to identify with. Not all of us may have actually experienced being in the middle of the sea during a terrifying storm, but we can easily imagine what it is.
Human life is far from being in a luxury cruise on a placid sea. In the storms of life, we are sometimes violently tossed to and fro; the waves of discouragement assail us, the horizon is not visible at all and we fear we would all sink.
Two temptations are before us. One is to conclude that such an inhuman world is absurd, and that the only adequate response is to harden ourselves in a kind of stoic pride. The other is to escape from reality into the make-believe world of fun and fantasy.
Jesus, instead, proposes an alternative: quite simply, to trust Him. The two temptations before us now morph into the crucial question: which of the two F’s will it be for us? Fear or Faith?
We can take a cue from Jesus Himself. The Gospel states that at the height of the storm, Jesus was “sleeping soundly.” Whether or not this was literally true is not so much the point. It is simply a gesture of a childlike, total trust on God, knowing that He takes care of us and will never abandon us, most especially when we are in the midst of trials and difficulties.
A story goes that a little boy was simply enjoying his time, frolicking and playing on the deck of a luxury cruise ship — as a storm was beginning to form in the middle of the ocean. In the midst of the panic as life jackets began to be passed around, a man noticed the boy. He asked him, “Are you not afraid, my boy?” To which the young boy replied, “No, I’m not. My father is the captain of the ship.” Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB

Reflection Question:
Which feeling dominates you more when you are faced with life’s storms: fear or faith?

“When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm. Father, You are King over the flood. I will be still, know You are God.”

St. Vincenza Gerosa, pray for us.