Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Catechism Links[1]
 
CCC 423, 464-469: Jesus, true God and true Man
CCC 1814-1816: Faith as gift of God, and human response
CCC 671-672: Maintaining faith in adversity

“Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee”
by Jan the Elder Brueghel, c. 1596

Readings for Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time [2]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
 
Readings and Commentary: [4]
 
Reading 1: Job 38:1, 8-11
 
The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said:
Who shut within doors the sea,
when it burst forth from the womb;
when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
 When I set limits for it
and fastened the bar of its door,
and said: Thus far shall you come but no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stilled!
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Commentary on Jb 38:1, 8-11
 
The exchanges between Job and the “three friends” have concluded. Now God himself speaks to Job. God reminds Job of his great power in creation. God is speaking out of the storm, frequently the background of the appearances of the Lord in the Old Testament, cf. Psalm 18; 50; Nahum 1:3; Hebrews 3. He recalls the creation of the sea and how its bounds were set. All of this backdrops the question God asks of Job – can he understand God who is omnipotent and above all creation?
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31
 
R. (1b) Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
 
They who sailed the sea in ships,
trading on the deep waters,
These saw the works of the LORD
and his wonders in the abyss.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
 
His command raised up a storm wind
which tossed its waves on high.
They mounted up to heaven; they sank to the depths;
their hearts melted away in their plight.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
 
They cried to the LORD in their distress;
from their straits he rescued them,
He hushed the storm to a gentle breeze,
and the billows of the sea were stilled.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
 
They rejoiced that they were calmed,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his kindness
and his wondrous deeds to the children of men.
R. Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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Commentary on Ps 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31
 
Psalm 107 is a hymn of praise sung by those rescued from nature’s fury. In these strophes the psalmist sings of those who travel on the waters. They face the great power of the sea and the tumult of storms upon it. The Lord responded to their prayers for salvation and rescued them from destruction. The song rejoices because God has power over the forces of nature and saves his people, bringing calm waters and gentle breezes.
 
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Reading II: 2 Corinthians 5:14-17  
 
Brothers and sisters:
The love of Christ impels us,
once we have come to the conviction that one 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.
 
Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh;
even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh,
yet now we know him so no longer.
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.
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Commentary on 2 Cor 5:14-17  
 
In this passage the Apostle describes the transformation that occurs when a person accepts Christ and his mission.  That Christian no longer considers Christ in terms of what was accomplished as man but rather the spiritual dimension of the human person.  This life in the spirit is forged new in baptism.  The “old things,” the old covenant, passes away and new life and a new creation are brought forth in the new creation of the baptized.
 
CCC: 2 Cor 5:14 616, 851; 2 Cor 5:15 605, 655, 1269; 2 Cor 5:17 1214, 1265; 2 Cor 5:17-18 1999
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Gospel: Mark 4:35-41
 
On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples:
"Let us cross to the other side."
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,
so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him,
"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"
He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet!  Be still!"
The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?"
They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
"Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?"
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Commentary on Mk 4:35-41
 
In this passage, Jesus embarks in what is probably a fishing boat with his disciples. A storm comes up and the disciples are afraid. Jesus, with a word (“Quiet! Be still!"), silences the storm and waters, demonstrating the authority of the Messiah over the elements of the created world. The implication of his next statement ("Do you not yet have faith?”) is that, if the disciples had a mature faith, they could have done the same. The disciples are awed by his power but do not yet have faith to understand its source. This incident gives insight into the gift of Christ's peace to those who have faith in the face of adversity.
 
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Reflection:
 
Anyone who has been out in a boat in the middle of an intense storm can appreciate the level of fear the disciples were feeling as they were caught in the storm described in St. Mark’s Gospel.  In the face of the power of sea and weather one truly gets a sense of God’s power and how small and insignificant we are in the face of that immensity.  Into the middle of this fear and awe comes the voice of Jesus "Quiet!  Be still!"  He speaks these words and the storm and waves obey him, amazing his disciples and demonstrating his power over his creation.
 
That same statement, "Quiet!  Be still," is spoken to our hearts when we are tossed and threatened by the tumult of our lives.  When the storms of anger wash over us, that voice rebukes the waves and the wind of hate and violence.   When the persecutions of our life threaten to capsize us, the Lord can cause those forces to cease to be a threat.  We almost hear the voice: “Why are you terrified?” 
 
The answer, of course, is that in times of stress we forget that we do not control the world around us.  We forget that God is with us in the boat and do not call out to him.  Instead we feel our own inadequate effort is what we must depend upon.
 
Job complained bitterly at the difficulty that was heaped upon him.  But even in his complaint, he never lost sight of the will and power of God to change his situation.  In the passage we are given today, he is reminded that God created the sea, set the sky above it and the shore around it.  The waves and storms are his creation. God’s power dwarfs the angry sea.
 
We pray for the faith of Job who had trials that make our own seem insignificant.  How then do we come to faith that allows us to reach out to the peace of Christ?  Faith is a free gift from God, given in the measure he chooses.  But faith is also like a muscle that can be built up with practice.  If we want to come to a place where the world’s storms can be met and overcome we need a strong and lively faith that taps into the power of the Holy Spirit and wakes the Lord sleeping within us.  If we wake him often it becomes second nature, what we might call the “Jesus reflex.”  When anger, hatred, or envy threaten to wash over us, we call out to him without thinking and he will calm those storms with a word.  We just need to remember he is in the boat.
 
Pax
 

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[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture is “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee” by Jan the Elder Brueghel, c. 1596.
[3] S.S. Commemoratio
[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.