The Stormy Crossing
MK 4:35-41
A very happy Father’s Day to all Fathers and Grandfathers, adoptive Fathers,
those who will someday be fathers and to men call to be ro le models in their
lives. This is a day during which we honor our Fathers and acknowledge the
image of true Fatherhood given to us by God our Father our guide and protector
for His ever present love.
At the beginning of today’s gospel story Jesus said to His apostles: “Let
us cross to the other side”.
These apostles certainly did what He asked and got on board with Him trusting
that all would be well after experiencing a wonderful day of His preaching to
great crowds gathered on the shore. All was well.
But things got difficult, the waves and wind picked up, the crossing got
perilous and frightening and they forgot their trust, lost their faith and
virtually accused Him of not caring. They overlooked and actually
criticized the fact that He was not frightened at all but simply slept, trusting
in the will of His Father. They failed to trust in Him and instead
embraced their fear.
The challenge of placing ourselves in total trust of His will, and to journey on
the path He has given us without accusing Him of not caring is something we face
in our lives.
This call from Jesus “Let us cross to the other side” is a challenge to all of
us today in this gospel.
We’re called to cross:
· from the side of sin to a life of grace,
· from the side of doubt to a life of trust,
· from the side of weakness in faith to one
of strength and knowledge,
· from a life of secular fixation on the
material world to a life of eyes fixed totally on Jesus.
And when things get difficult during the crossings we’re called to in life, no
matter how intense and unsettling the journey is, like that storm as sea, we’re
called to trust in His presence.
After He calmed the seas the apostles were filled with great awe and wonder and
questioned: “who then is this whom even the wind and sea obey”?
How too when we have made difficult crossings in our lives do we look back at
the difficulty and anxiety we experienced in our crossing and marvel at the
power of God and the wonder of His work in our lives.
There are two short stores of my Father’s influence on my life I’d like to share
with you, one which pertains to modeling and the other directly related to
this gospel reading about a crossing...
I remember one evening with my father as I went with Him to what was called
nocturnal adoration many years ago when I was a boy. I was the eldest so
He
asked me to come with him at his 11PM hour of adoration and of course, to stay
up late I was excited to go.
I remember him opening up his little pouch where he kept his rosary and some
change there were always two tic-tac’s. One for him and one for me to get
us started. We knelt down in that darkened church with the monstrance on
the altar containing the Eucharist exposed for our adoration, and I wondered how
he could stay awake with his eyes closed for so long as he said his rosary.
I remember the darkened church and the candles under the statues which actually
made the statues seem to be moving in the flickering light. As I’d doze
off he’d gently nudge me to stay awake for the rest of the hour and pray for
God’s grace in my life. I trace my dedication to the Christ’s real presence in
the Eucharist and adoration back to that time and will always be grateful to him
for that gift.
~My Dad also told me one night over some iced tea as we sat in the garage after
I returned form work at the supermarket of being called to go to the other side
himself ... in this case the other side of the Atlantic. He told me about
his trip across the Atlantic in a troopship named the “Isle de France”. This was
what was called a liberty ship, basically a converted freighter...one of many by
which thousands of troops were convoyed across the ocean to the European and
African theaters of WWII.
He said that basically they spent most of their time on the decks because they
were all jammed in and it was hot and steamy and they needed air. The ships
didn’t have the stabilizers that cruise ships have today so basically everyone
was sick. He recalled a story to me of one night as they experienced a
severe storm that tossed the ship like a cork and that it began leaning first to
ne side then to another. He said that the crew had all the men run in
large groups from one side of the ship to the other in large groups to stabilize
it the seas were so rough.
He told me that even though he went to Church as a young man he never really
prayed until that night. His dad, my grandfather had given him a rosary when the
ship left New York and that he barely remembered how to pray it that night.
They were all amazed that they made it through the night and he recalled that
many young men cried both during the ordeal and also next morning in
thanksgiving and wonder that they had made it.
That night, when they all thought the ship was going to capsize, he told me that
he prayed very hard and promised to learn and to say the rosary every day for
the rest of his life if he made it through. Instead of blaming God or
accusing Him of not caring he prayed and prayed hard.
And he lived up to that promise every day until his death a few years ago at age
90 he prayed the rosary faithfully and taught all of us to do the same. His
faith and his thanksgiving for God’s grace has been a clear lesson of trust in
the Lord and in the power of prayer to me for many years.
We all are or will be asked to “cross to the other side” many times in our
lives, to deal with very difficult transitions and challenges in our lives. Let
us never forget the eternal and boundless love of God and never accuse Him of
abandonment at those times, but turn to Him in prayer and trust and hope as we
cross the raging seas of our most difficult trials in life. For even though his
apostles who travelled with him for over 2 years at that point still didn’t know
who He was, we do. Because of over 2000 years of scripture and of Church
teaching and tradition we know who He is. He is a God of awe and wonder who is
always there for us.
Have a blessed Fathers Day