Saturday, January 30, 2021 - Third week in ordinary time - God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that those who believe in him may have eternal life - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4, 35-41
In the middle of a storm, Jesus sleeps like a cradled child. However, his disciples cry out to him: "Master, we are lost; do you not mind?" As if according to the disciples, He does not care about them, while they are in the same boat. They even seem to blame him for leaving them in the throes of evil. Jesus gives the disciples a first teaching by commanding the wind and the sea to calm down. He silenced evil, Satan, the sea being a symbol of evil. Jesus does not want his disciples to be shaken by evil. The lesson to be learned is that we must have confidence in Him, and above all that we have faith, which is the soul allowing to face the realities of daily life.
He gave this teaching, not only to the apostles, but also to us who live today. So many events in life confuse us to name only illnesses, trials, failures, which make us lose confidence to the point of thinking that God does not listen to prayers, that He does not seem to care about suffering that affect men. We have just heard the Gospel, Jesus awoke to calm the wind and calm the sea; He is with us constantly, whether in joy or in sorrow. He is with us in the Church. He is at the controls of the boat, symbol of the Church, sailing into the wind and braving the waves. It is no longer the Jesus dozing in the sleep of death, but the Jesus who rose from the dead; and who says: "Courage! I am victorious over the world".
So, He asks us to have faith. It is faith that enables us to face the challenges of life. The disciples in their boat received reproaches from him for their lack of faith. Indeed, it is sad to see people lose their faith and leave the Church, because their requests to God are not answered, or the results of the publicity for that matter are only illusions; we forget the words of Jesus, saying: "He who perseveres to the end, he will be saved". So let us ask for the faith and the strength to keep it in order to be saved. Amen!
