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Introduction
In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites
his apostles to leave behind the crowds and cross to the other
shore. He invited them, as older translations said, to “the farther
shore”.
In doing this, Jesus was not merely inviting them to
go from one place to another. Instead, he was inviting his apostles
to leave the noise and confusion of the crowd and to come to
a place apart where they could really come to know and love him.
In this Mass, Jesus is offering you and me the same invitation.
He is inviting us to the farther shore – to make the crossing
leading to that place apart where we can come to full maturity
in his love, full maturity as his followers, as members of his
Body, the Church, and as his witnesses in the world.
Not the
Easiest Crossing
That crossing was not easy for the apostles
and it is not easy for us. To reach “the farther shore” – that
is – to become the persons God is calling us to be – demands
that we too must leave the crowds behind. We can’t just go along
with what everyone else is doing, especially those things that
are contrary to the Gospel. We can’t give in to the temptation
to marginalize our faith, whether in our personal lives, our
professional lives, or the public square.
The Gospel warns us
that our passage to the farther shore will be stormy. As we travel
towards holiness, i.e., towards full maturity in Christ Jesus,
we, like the apostles, will encounter squalls and storms. We
will experience much resistance and all kinds of difficulties,
some of our own making, some foisted on us by others – such as:
- the loss of a job, economic troubles
- serious illness or the
death of a loved one
- setbacks in our moral struggles
- chronic
marital problems leading to loneliness and isolation.
What
We Learn From Difficulties
All this and more can give us “that
sinking feeling which so terrified the apostles as they crossed
the stormy waters with Jesus. But that “sinking feeling” opened
the eyes of the apostles. Because of it they could see that
they couldn’t get to the other shore without Jesus! That’s true of us. The storms
of life are bound to come – much as we try to avoid them – yet
they help us understand ourselves a lot better. They help us
face our fears, to see where we are lacking in trust, and to
know those weaknesses that need to be addressed.
Above all, the
storms of life should make us ask ourselves whether we are
taking Jesus with us in our journey through life – or better
yet, whether we are riding in Jesus’ boat which is the Church
– or else, simply trying to go it alone. If we try to go it alone,
we will never reach the other shore! We will never become those
holy and mature followers of Christ we were called to become
on the day of our Baptism. Yes, like the apostles, we may think
Jesus is asleep when we call to him for help! But the slumber
of Jesus is more powerful than the savage forces of nature and
more powerful that even our rebellious wills.
Wonder and Awe
Today’s responsorial psalm expressed wonder over the ocean depths
and the God who created them. So also did Job amid all his afflictions.
The Apostles, as we saw, were filled with awe for they not only
encountered the One through whom those depths were created but
indeed the One who could still them.
This power was but the sign
of a mightier power, the power of Christ to overcome sin and
death, not by coercion but by the strength of love. It is this
power, this strength we encounter in Peter’s barque, in the Church,
in her sacramental life. In Baptism and Eucharist we find the
strength cross over from the death of sin to newness of life
and from physical death to eternal glory. In Penance we are set
aright when we have gone off course. What awe and wonder should
fill our hearts whenever we celebrate these mysteries. And of
all the good things we want for our children and for our children’s
children – none surpasses the gift of the Spirit to be awestruck
– to be filled with the wonderment of love of so great a Redeemer.
Today we celebrate the vocation of fatherhood and by extension
the vocation to marriage and family life. We thank our fathers,
both living and deceased, for their love even as we seek to
be renewed in our vocations as fathers – as fathers of families
and as father’s of the family of God, the Church. By word and
example may we communicate to our loved ones a deep and abiding
sense of wonder in awe in the God who made us and redeemed
us, the Father, from whom every family in heaven & on earth
takes its name.
May the Lord bless our fathers and keep them
and all of us in his love.
Return to the Writings of Bishop
Lori
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