25/06/2006 - TWELFTH SUNDAY of ORDINARY
TIME - Year B
First Reading Job 38:1; 8-11 Psalm 106/107
Second Reading 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 Gospel Mark 4:35-41
Those who follow Jesus are not satisfied with "You shall not kill"!
Those who follow Jesus try to "to do unto others what they want done unto
themselves"! If we look at the story of the Church, we see that the Church,
herself (that is our brothers and sisters who lived in past centuries) was committed,
first and foremost, in all the dimensions and all the possibilities of life,
to helping the weak and the suffering! We see popes and bishops, religious orders
and congregations, Christian princes and kings, committed to the service of
the marginalized, the orphans, the sick, the small, the ignorant, etc...; to
the service of life, for the betterment of life! Hospitals, orphanages, nursing
homes, free schools available to everyone, universities, trade schools, institutions
for the promotion of labourers, co-operatives and many other initiatives designed
to improve the standard of life for mankind, many of which were inspired and
founded by Christians. Even some of the modern centers designed for the betterment
of life, the community assisting in the detoxification of addicts and many associations
and organizations born for the support and the recovery of human life surfaced
through the works of the Church; thereby, through obedience to the Gospel. Therefore,
the Fifth Commandment, read in light of the love of Jesus, who gave Himself
for us, bears fruit to our society and to the world!
We obey this Commandment from God even as we pay attention to our cultural and
spiritual formation, to our own preparation, so that our life may be a gift
and a service to all, at every level! We obey this Commandment when we consider
our life to be a call from God to collaborate with Him, and are open to suggestions,
be they grand choices or small decisions, because we come from the belief that
'I must collaborate with the love of God, the Father'! Always remember that
you are a member of the Body of Christ. This will help to always validate your
life, and the life of others, in a positive way because it is for them that
Jesus gave His life!
This time, one Scriptural passage, actually two, help us to respond to the surprising
question of the Apostles. They saw that their Master gave an order to the wind
and to the waves of the sea, and their dangerous agitation was stilled! Who
is this that can give orders to the power of nature? Why do they obey as though
in fear? Men are afraid of the waves and the wind; yet, the wind and the waves
are afraid of Him! Who can this be? Job and the psalmist answer us, disolving
our doubts. Speaking of God, the Psalm says: "He stilled the storm to a
whisper; all the waves of the sea were hushed"! And in the book of Job,
God Himself appears as the One who controls the powers of nature, mainly those
that make men quiver in fear. So then, Jesus' command is from God, the mouth
of Jesus is that of God, the will of Jesus is the will of God: it is clear,
Jesus is God!
It was not easy for the Apostles to come to this conclusion. It is not easy
for us, either. It's not easy to keep in mind that God is the One who makes
the wind and the sea afraid, but the One who loves mankind and will defend them,
even from the wind and the sea! Jesus is certainly God! But not God, the Omnipotent,
in the sense that He does all that men would like Him to do, in order to be
respected, a God to be feared; but a God who loves, who listens to the prayer
of His friends and answers them, even though their faith may be weak and child-like.
What the twelve Apostles experienced on the boat left them dumbfounded: they
were afraid because they were at the mercy of the adverse wind, the enemy of
their journey and of their life. They were surprised by their Master's reproach,
as well. Why did He accuse them of not having faith? Why did he reproach them
for being afraid?
In the presence of Jesus, one cannot be afraid, even if He sleeps, even if it
appears that He is not aware of the dangers we face! He is not an ordinary man,
a sinner like us. Yes, He is a man, who labours and gets tired, who sleeps and
awakes, like all of us, but He is the Son of the living God, sent by the Father
to give us His love and to stand by to us. He is God!
The boat with the Apostles, worried, afraid and imploring is the Church which,
today, still faces dangers and threats, but should not be afraid. And we, who
are members of the Church, though we seek the Lord to come to our aide, we do
it with faith, with certainty, with peace. He, though He appears to be sleeping,
is our Lord and Master, He is our bread and our life. Of whom, or of what, can
we be afraid? The evil one is not stronger than Him, even though, he is allowed
to tempt us. We know Jesus, no longer as a man, but as our God! And we live
for Him: our faith in Him renews us, it makes us creatures who belong to Him,
and who live on this earth, but who are already citizens of heaven!