From the responsorial psalm: “They rejoiced that they were calmed, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his kindness and his wondrous deeds to the children of men. Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 4:35-41)
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?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
As Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee with his disciples to reach the pagan territory of Gerasenes, a sudden gust of wind comes up over their boat. As water began to fill it, the boat was in danger of sinking and the disciples became frightened. In waking Jesus, he speaks with the same power over nature that God displays in the first reading from Job. Jesus speaks, and the sea obeys. So it is with the troubled waters of life, when in times of trial we call into question where God is in the storm. “Do you not care?” Just as God sets the limits of what we can bear, so Christ with a word disperses our storms and says, “Quiet! Be still!” At times like that, we can only pause in thanksgiving at the wondrous deeds God works in our lives.
God, I know you are present at all times. As the Gospel acclamation says, “A great prophet has risen in our midst. God has visited his people.” When I turn my back on you, I am the one responsible for your apparent absence. But you are there nonetheless, and in times of trouble I have an urgent need to find you again. “Be still,” Jesus says. “Be still and know that I am God!” the psalmist prays, “The LORD of hosts is with us.” Give me the faith, Lord, to keep you in my sight throughout the day so that when night comes I have unshakeable confidence in you at all times—in life’s storms and in the calm of their ceasing.
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.