1.Job
38: 1, 8-11
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2.
2Corinthians 5:14-17
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3.Mark4:35-41
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Theme “The love of God will overcome every storm in
Christian Journey”
As we celebrate the 12th
Sunday of the year A ordinary time an invitation to us all is that how much do
we trust in Christ? Whatever we undergo in the course of our Christian calling
do we put our trust in our Lord Jesus Christ? In our Christian journey there a
lot of waves and storms we encounter these include, disappointments of various
kinds, yet amid of these disappointments do we hope that Christ is among us and
is journeying with us? Today in the gospel we hear St. Mark the evangelist
telling us “behold there arose a great tempest in the sea, so that the sheep
was covered with the waves, but he was a sleep.” In this verse we can learn and
understand that Jesus took them with him, not by chance but in order to make
them spectators of the miracle that was to take place. Jesus like an excellent trainer
he was anointing his disciples with view not to be undismayed in dangers, to
remain vigilant amid faith challenges, and to be modest in honours. Jesus went
with the disciples alone to the other side of the lake in order to let them be
tossed with tempest and thus disciplining them to bear trials nobly.
When the tempest was at
its height and the sea raging, they woke him saying “ Lord save us: we perish.”
But he rebuked them before he rebuked the sea, as these things happened not for
their own sake, rather they were permitted for training purposes and they were
an image of trials that would come to them later. The disciples having expected
to be lost, they were saved, and having acknowledged the danger, they learned
the greatness of the miracle. So that is why he sleeps; if he had been awake
when the storm in the sea happened, they would not have been fearful or they
would not have engaged him by asking him to calm the storm; in this context we
are invited also that when we feel abandoned we have to think and hope that
Jesus never abandon his very brothers and sisters he redeemed with his blood on
the cross.
We are invited to trust
and believe in the power of the word of God, Jesus this is well manifested in
the scenario whereby Jesus calmed the storm by his word as it can be noted form
one of St. John Chrysostom’s homilies on St. Matthew’s gospel that “ he stretched out no rod as Moses did,
neither did he stretch forth his hands to Heaven, nor did he need any prayer
but as for a master commanding his handmaid or a creator to his creature, so
did he quiet and curb it by word and command only; and all the surge was
immediately at an end, and no trace of the disturbance remained.” The evangelist
insists that “ he spoke and the stormy wind ceased.”
The church of God has
undergone through some very stormy waters in recent times, a good example to
that, Rwanda and Burundi genocide whereby faithful Christians were executed on
the basis of their faith as well as their ethnical background. Looking at what
challenges our mother church is going through such as killing of the church’s
ministers like Zanzibar whereby the Catholic Church clerics were slaughtered on
the spot, killing of the Muslim clerics etc, we need to be vigilant and asking
God’s help in whatever we encounter as challenges in our apostolate. The good
news from the gospel this morning is that Christ is ever with his church. The
Lord is ever present to his fearful and faithless disciples. We need to have courage
that in time of trials and distress, it is when we are strengthened in our
faith. As we do engage in life’s storms we need to be life giving to our
brothers and sisters whose lives seem to be in danger. Let’s imitate Jesus calm
that seems to storms to others. We need to trust that our Lord Jesus Christ is
stronger than whatever storm may be, self created storm,/inflicted storm by
others, thus when we trust in Jesus Christ that he is ever with us in our
journey, then nothing will prevent each one of to accomplish the mission our
Lord is calling us to do. Our need and distress are the means to open up more
fully to the Lord’s life giving presence among us.
To end up my homily on
the 12 Sunday ordinary time I would like to quote the words of a certain preacher
who said “fear does not need to cripple us from taking right action or rob us
of our trust and reliance on God. Courage working with faith enables us to
embrace God’s word of truth and love with confidence and to act on it with firm
hope in God’s promises. The love of God strengthens us in our faith and trust
in him and enables us to act with justice and kindness towards our neighbour
even in the face of opposition or harm.”
St. Augustine of Hippo
once commented “When you have to listen to abuse, that means you are being
buffeted by the wind, when your anger is roused, you are being tossed by the
waves. So when the wind blow and the waves mount high, the boast is in danger,
your heart is imperilled, your heart is taking a battering. On hearing yourself
insulted, you long to retaliate; but the joy of revenge brings with it another
kind of misfortune- why because Christ is a sleep in you. What do I mean? I
mean you have forgotten his presence. Rouse him, then; remember him, let him
keep watch within you, pay heed to him... A temptation arises: it disturbs you:
it is the surging of the sea. This is the moment to awaken Christ and let him
remind you of those words: ‘who can this be? Even the winds and the sea obey
him’” ( excerpt from SERMONS 63:1-3.23)
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