A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 4:35-41)
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
Mark recounts Jesus’ calming of the storm while he and his disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee. Amazed and terrified, the disciples say, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” The calming of the storm demonstrates Jesus’ authority and power over the natural elements. When the sea is quiet, Jesus asks them a penetrating question in response to theirs, to the indifference they believe Jesus shows. “Do you not yet have faith?” he asks them. In the midst of a storm—any storm—Jesus is present and has power over it. By calming the storm, Jesus demonstrates divine authority and reveals greater authority still over the havoc of sin and death, victorious over it as the Savior.
God, help me recognize in the work of your Son Jesus the relationship of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, described during Pentecost as a strong driving wind, was present when Jesus calmed the driving winds of the storm. A quietness followed that left the disciples “filled with great awe” with an awakening awareness that the Son of God rested in the boat with them. When the storms of life overwhelm, Lord, help me come to you with confidence, knowing that with a word you can calm them. And give me renewed faith to remain in your boat in the wake of the storm, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
From the responsorial psalm: “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me. Create a clean heart in me, O God.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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