Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
How many times in life do we have the experience of our boat being rocked and pitched by a storm?
Whether we encounter storms in our family relationships, literal storms made more dangerous by climate change, storms in the world of politics that threaten our well-being or that of vulnerable members of our family or neighborhoods the challenge is to take to heart the words of today’s Gospel acclamation: “I trust in the Lord, my soul trusts in God’s word.” Jesus asks the disciples “Why are you so terrified?” And then – as we have seen him do in our own lives often - he acted. What was left was a “great calm”. It isn’t easy to be so trusting that God’s mercy is always available, that God is not actually asleep and deaf to our appeals. Sometimes, like Lot in the first reading, we need to make very clear that we are at our limit. “God, I can’t go any farther – so bring that safety to where I am – even if that’s in the midst of a firestorm.” It’s good to take some time to look back on some of the times that we did make it to a place of calm. It will bolster our confidence that our God is a faithful God – to keep that mercy “before my eyes” as the psalmist sings. Then we can rely that, whatever the current storm, God is with us and will bring us to a peaceful place. And, like the disciples, we will be amazed.
—Sr. Laura Leming, FMI