This reflection is based on the readings for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time—Year B: Job 38: 1-4,8-11; Psalm 107; 2 Corinthians 5: 14, 14-17; and Mark 4: 35-41.
One of the scariest things that ever happened to me, happened here at St. Peter’s Parish. For lack of a better description, I will call it: the pandemic.
On the first night, after the government announced the official lock down, I went to bed frightened about how the parish community would survive if we could not let people into the church. That same evening, at about three in the morning, I was awoken by a non-stop banging. It took me a few minutes to figure out where it was coming from. At first, I waited and assumed that it would stop. However, it did not stop and it sounded like there was someone pounding on the door with a hammer. I soon realized that it sounded like someone pounding on the door with hammer, because it was someone pounding on the door with a hammer. Since it seemed like it was never going to stop, I made what could be considered the somewhat unwise decision to go to the door to see what was going on. At the door, I was greeted by a man completely wrapped in plastic from head to toe, afraid of catching COVID and seeking a place to stay. After I explained to him that the fact that he was yielding a hammer made it difficult to feel safe providing him with shelter, I went back to bed and he seemed to understand. Shortly thereafter, I was awoken on two evenings by the alarm system and could hear someone in the rectory in the early hours of the morning. On both occasions, the police told me to stay in my room and wait until they had cleared the rectory. They sent three police cars and six officers on both occasions. Each time, although the man had left the rectory before they arrived, it was the same man who in the daytime had been throwing rocks at the church for no apparent reason. Throughout all of this, much like the disciples in the boat with Christ in the midst of the storm, I found myself asking, Lord, “do you not care that we are perishing?”
Despite all the challenges that came with the pandemic, I have to say that in the end, it was one of the most amazing things that happened to my spiritual life. It called me to ask in ways that I never thought possible, “who is this Jesus whom I claim to believe in and do I really believe in him?” Just as Jesus asked his disciples why they were afraid and had no faith, difficulties and challenges can demand that we ask ourselves what we really believe about Jesus and whether we have real faith in Him. This is ultimately what today’s Gospel is asking us about our faith. Do we really believe and trust in the Lord and the promises that He has made us? For many people, their faith in Jesus is what I like to call “rabbit-foot faith.” They think that their faith in Jesus should work like a lucky charm. This means that they think if they go to Church and say their prayers, nothing bad will ever happen to them. This is kind of what the disciples are thinking as the storm threatens to overtake them and the boat that they are in. They cannot understand how bad things can be happening when Jesus is with them. They are also wondering how he can be so unconcerned during these trials. However, Jesus knows who He is and what His divine mission is, and so He is at peace and calls them to understand the peace that they should know if they really understood who He was and Is.
So who is He?
Over the past few weeks, I have been reading a book about the priesthood for a course that I will be teaching at the seminary. The book begins by stating that any Christian life and vocation, no matter what, must be grounded in an understanding of who Jesus was, is and will always be. The Gospel this Sunday kind of summarizes it by calling Jesus the one who commands even the seas and the winds. However, He is far more than one who just commands the sea and wind. He is also one of the Holy Trinity who created them and sustains everything in existence. However, because I think all of us need to be reminded from time to time who we actually profess Jesus to be, if we are to find the true peace that He invites us to, I would just like to share with you some of the qualities that this book on the priesthood focused on for an understanding of who Christ really is. Quoting the great scripture scholar Joachim Jeremias, Kenan Osbourne describes Jesus as the one who: 1) Has brought the return of the Spirit; 2) Overcome the rule of Satan; 3) Brought the dawn of the Kingdom of God; 4) Announces the Good News to the poor; and 5) Destroys death and wins for us eternal life. Because an understanding of these five aspects of Christ’s identity can bring us an understanding of who He is, that can bring us strength in all situations, I would like to touch on each of them briefly.
In the end, what am I suggesting with all of this? It is quite simple: when we are frightened and confused, we can have a tendency to obsess on the challenge and problem before us. By doing this, we can and do lose our perspective. Sometimes what we need to do is focus on who Jesus is and what promises He has made to us. This can be done by praying the “Our Father” quietly; praying the mysteries of the rosary; or perhaps just reciting the creed and focusing on what we truly believe about Christ. One of my favorite things to do is to simply recite the quiet mantra: “Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, I place my trust in you.” It is true, it does not tell me how the situation will be resolved or how I will come through it. It does, however, remind me, that Christ is with me and that through Him, no matter what happens, I have been saved.
The disciples in the boat found peace in the midst of the storm that surrounded them because Jesus commanded the sea and the wind. You and I are invited to find our peace in the one who has overcome death, won a place for us in Heaven, and has promised that He is with us until the end of time. May we find that peace not in our own efforts to solve our problems, but in our knowledge of who Jesus the Lord really is—the Son of God.
Fr. Michael McGourty is Pastor of St. Peter’s Church in downtown Toronto.