Holy Mary, Star of the Sea, help us to give ourselves to Jesus completely with no fear. Amen.

Homily for Mark 4:35-41 Twelfth Sunday of the Year

Today we return to ordinary time and to the Gospel of St. Mark. Just like the mysteries of Christ’s life that we meditate upon in the luminous mysteries of the Holy Rosary, the Gospel of St. Mark covers the apostolic or public ministry of Jesus. And Mark, especially highlights the great signs and wonders that Jesus performs during this public ministry of His.

Today, we hear of one of these great wonders, in the account of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. The account would seem difficult to believe if you ever seen the Lake of Galilee. Galilee is just a small lake and not a very deep one at that. Nonetheless, storms can indeed arise and arise quickly.

I once heard of a Franciscan priest who was stationed at one of the shrines on the shores of Galilee. A fellow Franciscan came to visit and they decided to take a boat trip out on the lake. The visiting priest after seeing how calm the lake was and how peaceful everything was, told the other priest that he doubted the story of the storm described in today’s Gospel. He just couldn’t see how such a violent storm could arise on such a small and shallow lake. He told his fellow Franciscan priest, “I really doubt this story in the Scriptures- it must just be a metaphor. All of a sudden, with in a matter of seconds, the wind direction changed and a storm came over the horizon. The calm lake was suddenly turned into a very dangerous place. Their lives were actually put in danger as their little boat almost sank, but fortunately, as they were not very far out, they were able to make it safely back to shore. There on the shore, the visiting priest became a believer and said, “Okay, okay, I believe, I believe!”

I believe! belief—personal faith in the Word of God, this is the theme of the Gospel according to St. Mark- St. Mark emphasizes the divinity of Christ by telling of the great signs and wonders, the miracles, Jesus performed. In fact, through the evangelist St. Mark, the Holy Spirit wants to lead us all into a belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ—the Word of God become Man. The Holy Spirit wants us to believe with a firm and certain faith that Jesus is God, true God and true Man. We will see this over and over again in the coming weeks, as we listen to the Holy Spirit’s teaching in Mark.

Today, we see the divinity of Christ clearly manifested to us in His divine authority over nature itself. Jesus calmly and serenely sleeps in the boat while a rapid storm arises and begins to toss it. This calming of the water is actually an ancient sign, a sign that shows God alone can calm and control the water. For example, think of the creation story and the stopping of the great flood, the waters receding so there could be land for Noah and his family to rest after God saves them in the ark; or, Moses placing his staff in the Red Sea. I could go on, but enough to know that God alone controls the elements of Creation, such as the wind and weather. And Jesus, by Whom, through Whom and for Whom all was created, by His own divine power as the second person of the Holy Trinity, commands the storm to stop and the water of the lake to return to calm.

After he calms the storm, Jesus recognizes the fear in the disciples over witnessing the very power of God and Jesus confronts them for this fear. The disciples were indeed terrified and this fear was an obstacle to their faith. However its important to realize that this fear of theirs was not Holy fear, a fear in which one desires not to offend God because we love Him so very much.

Instead, theirs was actually a fear that was based on selfishness. For when confronted with the prospect that Jesus is truly God, there is always the possibility of fear, but this fear arises from having one’s shame exposed from not turning away from sin and simply confessing them to God with a humble and contrite heart. In fact, many who deny the divinity of Jesus really do so because their hearts are not open to this repentance and conversion; they selfishly want to remain in their sins. And then when confronted with the truth of Jesus divinity, they are fearful and even try to hide from God just like Adam and Eve did after that first human sin in the Garden of Eden. If Jesus is God, then because of this belief, we must repent and convert our hearts, turning them to Jesus completely by conforming our lives in obedience to His teachings with the help of His grace.

The disciples had miracles and other signs before this calming of the sea and they would receive more in order that they would believe. Again, their unbelief came from their fear and the fear came from the shame of having their sins exposed by being in the true presence of God Himself, Jesus; if you remember, Peter Himself said, “Depart from me O’ Lord for I am a sinful man. Little by little, the gift of faith that Jesus gave to the disciples would grow and take root in their hearts. Eventually, they were able to confess their sins and amend their lives in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit and overcome this disordered fear which is an obstacle to belief in Jesus’ divinity, that Jesus is God. Then in faith, they were able to turn fully to Jesus who is love and ask Him to fill them with His love, the love that overcomes all fear. Recall the words of St. John, “perfect love casts out fear.” Perfect love can do this, but we first must believe in Jesus who is love coming to us from God the Father. In other words, to believe that Jesus is God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, is to begin to be filled with His divine Love that casts out all fear. This brings to mind the words of JP II—“Be not afraid!” IN other words, believe in Jesus, believe that He is God, believe that He is the Holy Eucharist and then turn to Him in faith and then you will not be afraid. Don’t let your sins make you fearful of His divinity, far from striking you with lighting, by approaching Him with a contrite repentant heart He will take away you sins, and fill you with His Divine love and His divine life—and He will do so through His true presence, because His divine love and life is available to us through the Holy Eucharist if we but belief that the Holy Eucharist is God, is Jesus and put that belief in to action by adoring Him their with full hearts, minds and wills.

We live in fearful days, surely the events of our world tells us we have some legitimate fears. But these fears, like the storm on the Lake of Galilee, should not shake our faith, nor should they destroy the peace in our heart that true authentic faith gives us. Jesus is not affected by the storm, He owns the storm: He is divine and He has full authority over His creation. The great fear in our world is really caused by man’s unrepented sins, his failure to turn back to His Creator, resulting in a lack and loss of faith in the Divinity of Jesus Christ and a lack of belief in His Holy Catholic Church and that through the Church and Her Sacred Priesthood, Jesus is still physically with us on earth in the Holy Eucharist.

When we repent, that is, when we turn away from our sins and turn upward toward God with the help of His Holy Spirit, we allow that same Holy Spirit to grant us His great gifts. And through these gifts, we have confidence--we have the certainty that faith brings and our fear is taken away; it is replace instead with Holy fear, that is again a fear in which we dread doing anything that would offend such a good and loving God as we have, a God whom we love above all things. It all begins with leaving our sins behind and embracing true faith, Faith in Jesus, faith that He is really true God and true Man, and as God He is still among us in His Resurrected body in the Holy Eucharist. IF we truly believe this, then we will believe with our full intellect and wills the teachings, all of the teachings, He has passed down to us infallibly and without error through the Church He founded. And through our obedience to this same Church and to her teachings, know as the obedience of faith, we will finally allow Jesus to have complete authority and dominion over our lives…This is what it means to believe through the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is Lord!!!

With this type of faith, true faith, we will be filled with the love of God himself, we will be filled with God himself, and even though the mountains may fall into the sea, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, no evil will we fear, for our God, Jesus is there with us, along with His rod and His staff. Then surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life, and we shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Dear Jesus, in the Holy Eucharist you see us with your human eyes and you love us with your human heart. As we adore you in your human body and soul about to be made truly present o this altar through your Holy Sacrifice, help us to see our need for a deeper repentance and conversion so that we may see you ever more clearly through the eyes of faith in the Holy Eucharist. This is the Mystery of faith, the mystery that you Jesus are still physically present on earth to take away our sin and to calm all our fears in the midst of the storms of this present life. Amen. Holy Mary, Star of the Sea, help us to give ourselves to Jesus completely with no fear. Amen.