Extreme Fear

Greetings on this the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jb 38:1, 8-11; PS 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31; 2 Cor 5:14-17; Mk 4:35-41
Note: The rainy season was delayed this year. It did come and with it a massive pollen release by every plant species! My face and eyes are so swollen I am unable to attend Mass today. So my reflection is what I offer you alone.

Note 2: Happy Father’s Day!!!

If you recall yesterday, Saturday, the reflection He knows. He knows our needs. Today we plumb how deeply he knows and how deep our afflictions (even terror, even death). He knows.

As Osner would say, “Jesus knows, Jesus knows.“

Guest sermon from a favorite: Even Though He Sleeps, Christ Is in the Boat: My Sermon on Mark 4:35-41

First Reading
Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm and said:

• Where were you on the day of creation?
• Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place? (v12).
• (I am) taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from it? (v13).

We have limits on what we know and what we can do.

God has limits that are self imposed:

• He will not remove our free will. This is a gift he shall not take back.
• He will not remember confessed sin.
• He will never abandon us even at the hour of our death.

Responsorial Psalm
Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting.
This account of sailors being rescued at sea is a presage of the disciples adrift in a raging sea.

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

From this morning’s Liturgy of the Hours, Antphon of Cantical of Zechariah:

Help us, O Lord, for we are troubled; give the command, O God, and bring us peace.

Second Reading
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.

A real part of that is our approach to the fear of death and our response to terrifying things.

While residual fear exists, we are not yet perfect, we are no longer fearful of death because Jesus has overcome the grave.

Alleluia Verse
A great prophet has risen in our midst
God has visited his people.

Jesus proves himself by the works themselves, the miracles and the power over all things.
From the gospel portion: Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?

Gospel Portion
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”

Jesus exerts his power over the raging sea to reassure us he is present with us. No difficulty escapes his constant care for us. Still we remain.

I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one (Jn 17:15). (protect us from terror).

What rages in you?
What casues you to feel completely unable to control the world around you?

We live in a world filled with outrage and terror (extreme fear):

• Indignation.
• Feigned Indignation.
• Transference.
• Beyond frustrated, enraged.
• Beyond hurt, deeply wounded.

But the most profound lose of all is losing faith. Like the story of Job and the gospel portion of the disciples in the boat on the sea, our faith can be shaken to its core.

In all our difficulties, some too hurtful even to repeat them, we must never forget this Jesus who knows. Jesus is present, even in the hour of our terror.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry