Happy summertime. Longer days, higher temperatures and Atlantic storms aplenty. That’s the prediction.
Some of you know I spent most of my priestly ministry in colleges and universities. Sometimes I had to speak at alumni gatherings, in close geographic proximity. To be sure I wouldn't tell the same stories to the same people, I would ask the alumni director whether some alumni at one gathering would be attending the other. He, with tongue in cheek, assured me “It's unlikely that anyone who heard you speak at one would hear you again at the other.” There's a message in that!
So, what does the word of God say to us today?
First, the Book of Job addresses the eternal question: why do bad things happen to good people? God doesn’t answer Job's question directly. God simply uses the image of the mighty waters of the sea and its incredible power to say that God is mightier than these waters.
Yes, the author continues, God is the creator and guide of this awesome universe and we are mere creatures, each a speck of dust among more than 7 billion people today. Yet we are made in the image of God and possess God’s life within us. We live briefly on a planet that is perhaps billions of years old. We see astonishing courage and compassion, and appalling cruelty and injustice. We search for meaning in life, we age, and then we die. So, what is life all about? The Christian response is that in dying we live forever. In death there is life. Yes, we shall be like God and see God face to face.
Paul in his Letter to the Christian community in Corinth speaks about God’s saving work. God through Jesus by the power of the Spirit has begun a new era. We are new creatures by the grace-filled waters of baptism, destined for life eternal. Paul may ask us, do we live a God-like life?
In the Gospel, Jesus is on a small boat in the Sea of Galilee. A storm suddenly arises with crashing waves. And guess what: Jesus is asleep. The frightened disciples were afraid they would drown in these raging waters. So, they awaken Jesus and beg him to save them. Jesus simply calms the waters and asks: do you not yet have faith?
This Gospel scene inspired the 17th century Dutch artist Rembrandt to paint “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.” I would like to reflect on one theme, “the disciples were terrified or frightened.”
Jesus assures the disciples: “do not be afraid.” Yes, do not be afraid to do the right thing, to love goodness and walk humbly with God. Because God is with us. We have the energy of God within us.
How often do we hear that we're short on oil, gas etc. We seek new energy streams.
On a spiritual level we face similar challenges. Where do we get the energy to overcome spiritual challenges? Do we look “above” to the living Christ?
God through Jesus by the power of the Spirit has given us his energy, power and strength. That same energy of God raised Jesus from the dead. When Jesus completed the job he had been given, he cried out, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Amazingly, in the blood and water flowing from Jesus’s side, we see a symbol of hope for humanity. The “blood” symbolizes his life poured out for us; the “water” symbolizes the Spirit whose “waters” will cleanse, heal and energize us. The evidence of the empty tomb and the Jerusalem/ Galilee appearances convinced the disciples that Jesus was alive. They “saw and believed” that God’s energy had raised Jesus. This was unexpected sunshine. Spring had come, and with that a communal sense of God's gift of the Spirit.
We rightly think of power belonging to God. We easily forget that the same energy and power and strength of God that raised Jesus Christ from the dead now lives in us. It so “possessed” the Jerusalem disciples that they started a spiritual revolution heard ‘round the world.
And the age of miracles is not over. In recent times, an electrician, a prisoner, a nun—Walesa, Mandela and Teresa, and their coworkers--freed Poles from Soviet occupation, returned basic human rights to all South Africans, and restored to suffering and dying people in India and elsewhere their dignity as human beings.
Yes, I include coworkers. Famous names are spark plugs, but many people walked with Walesa, Mandela and Teresa of Calcutta.
The strength of God within us can fire us up to do the right thing etc. Today, at home or at work or in the community, I hope we will realize that the quality of our life and our soul’s destiny is being measured by our God-like attitudes and behaviors: going the extra mile to help someone in need; keeping promises; working for the common good; trusting in an all-good and compassionate God who is ever near to us in the “twists and turns” of life, and who will guide us safely home to our heavenly dwelling place.
Yes, we can do all these things and more if we let that energy and power and strength of God work in us as it has worked in holy men and holy women throughout the ages. Amen.
