Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Today’s readings cause us to consider God’s place in our lives during both difficult and ordinary times. In our first reading from Job, God addresses Job out of a storm and reminds him of God’s authority over the world. In our Gospel reading, we find Jesus asleep during a storm at sea. His disciples, fearing that the storm will overcome them, wake up Jesus with a plea for help. Upon awaking, Jesus, showing that his authority is that of the Father, quiets the storm and brings about calm. From time to time, we all find ourselves in a difficult situation. Perhaps, it is the threat of a physical illness, the death of a loved one or a national tragedy. In those instances, many of us feel a very natural desire to turn to God to bring us peace while experiencing these events that are outside of our control. We are reminded of the dramatic increase in Church attendance after 9/11 as evidence that in difficult times people turn to God. But soon after, the perceived threat passes and our relationship with God may become one of complacency on our part. While dramatic events help us focus on our reliance on God, we tend to forget the day-to-day difficulties that we experience, and we may forget that God has a place in those as well.

In a world of cell phones, Blackberries, text messaging, satellite radio, hundreds of television channels, video conferencing and a bewildering variety of options for everything we could possibly want, we may find ourselves lost in a storm of our own creation. We have never been presented with more alternatives to both fill our time and assist us in our day-to-day lives. But for many of us, we find that this vast array of options can cause more stress than it resolves, because these distractions can marginalize our relationship with God.

In trying to address every convenience and comfort that we can imagine, we risk losing site of our primary source of peace. Perhaps, like the disciples in today’s Gospel readings, we can recognize that we are currently immersed in a storm. Instead of turning to a new gadget or some other man-made convenience to help us chart our course through that storm, like the disciples, we could choose to wake up our relationship with Jesus.

In today’s readings the disciples physically wake up Jesus with a plea for his help. Jesus responds by commanding the storm to “Quite! Be still!” and “the wind ceased and there was great calm.” (Mk 4:39) Through prayer, we can welcome God’s participation in our lives and find our own great calm.

- John Sperino