June 21, 2009: 12th Sunday Ordinary (B)

Recently I was at a conference down in New Orleans listening to a talk by Sr. Briege McKenna, telling a story about her encounter at a grocery store. The checkout counter lady asked her, "I'm so afraid about all this Swine Flu, aren't you?" Sr. Briege replied, "Why? Why should we afraid to die? We're going to die one way or another, sooner or later." The checkout counter lady returned a puzzled look. And Sr. Briege replied, "We shouldn't be worried about whether we're going to die. We should be worried about where we are going to spend our eternal life--eternal life with God or eternal life without God." Sr. Briege summed up well what our preoccupation should be here on earth. (Note: Sr. Briege wrote a wonderful book called, Miracles Do Happen)

I remember back in August last year, I watched my 401K retirement savings take a nosedive. I know many fathers here worried about the same thing. By the end of the month, it was half what it was at the beginning of the year. I didn't have that much to begin with because I worked only three years with that company. Nevertheless to see your savings evaporate like that stirs all sorts of fears inside. I can't imagine, then, what went on in your minds--all of you who have families, young children still in Catholic schools, and all of you who were ready to retire--to see your savings evaporate into thin air. What kind of storms were brewing inside of you?

I'm sure it was something similar to what the disciples faced in today's Gospel. After teaching the crowd, Jesus instructed the disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee in a boat. He was with them in the boat but fell asleep on a cushion. A squall of wind churned the waves to the point that water began to come into the boat. And the disciples cried out to Jesus, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up and silenced the storm. Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?"

Back in my seminary days, Jesus questioned me numerous times with the same question whenever I fell in doubt and fear. Some days I was confident about the direction that I was taking. But other days, I was full of doubt. I said to myself, "Jesus I really don't think I can be a good priest. I just lack the talent and skills. Are you sure that you want me to be a priest?" Picture a grown man who left what he thought was a secure ground--his career, his dream of having a family. Upon Jesus' urging, "Let us cross to the other side," this man gets into a boat with Jesus. But upon a slightest storm, this man panics. He tries to fix the problem himself--dropping the anchor, rolling up the sail, rowing frantically. He concludes that his talent and skills are no match for the storm that he is facing. So as a last resort, he goes to Jesus. "Do you not care, Jesus? You're the one who got me on this boat in the first place." And after Jesus calms the storm asks the question, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith, in Me?" This struggle between doubt and faith in Jesus we all face don't we? Although I'm disappointed again that I let Him down, every struggle is a lesson well learned. Later on, I'll go back to this experience as an encouragement to face new struggles. It was the same for those disciples who were in the boat that day. They recalled later on after Pentecost experience and facing waves of persecution that Jesus calmed the storms. Once we go through boat in the storm experience with Jesus, somehow we are convinced that things are in His control. For those of us who have experienced the boat in the storm with Jesus, no Swine Flu, financial crisis, personal weakness, or even fear of death should stir us to panic.

St. Paul addressed one of our deepest fears--death--in our Second Reading today, "The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that [Jesus] died for all; therefore, all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." We shouldn't be worried about whether we're going to die. We should be worried about where we are going to spend our eternal life--eternal life with Jesus or eternal life without Jesus. Since we have died with Christ, we will rise with Christ. So our psalmist today in Psalm 107 encourages us when we face earthly storms to do something else than panic.

[We] cried to the LORD in [our] distress;
from [our] straits he rescued [us],
He hushed the storm to a gentle breeze,
and the billows of the sea were stilled.

[We] rejoiced that they were calmed,
and he brought [us] to [our] desired haven.
Let [us] give thanks to the LORD for his kindness
and his wondrous deeds to the children of men.