Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

The Sea of Galilee is actually a freshwater lake and is about thirteen miles long, seven miles wide but only 150 feet deep, and because it is surrounded by mountains, it is susceptible to sudden storms. So it can be calm one minute and violent the next.

That’s the way life is too! One minute you can be enjoying fair weather and the next minute you find yourself in the middle of a terrible storm. But this shouldn’t surprise us. The Bible says that the storms will always come our way.

The disciples were frightened by the severity of this storm. The boat is rocking and is full of water and they are afraid it is about to sink.

It was a violent storm and it was night time too so they could not see how close they were to the shore or the other ships around them. They were in great danger, and they feared for their lives.

Again, this is a lot like what we face in the storms of life. When they come, they are often severe and cause us great anguish and pain. The storms of suffering can blow into our lives and devastate us with heartache and turmoil.

They may even be storms of sorrow. But one thing is for sure – they come into every one’s life. They bring with them fear, anxiety and pain.

But the greatest storm that night was not on the Sea of Galilee, but in the hearts of the disciples. Storms of doubt. And while the storm is raging around them, Jesus is fast asleep in the back of the boat.

They accused the Lord of not caring about the situation. Sometimes we can say “Lord, don’t you care about what is happening to me? Can’t you see?”

But we must realise that He sees and cares more than we could ever know,

When the storm is raging; when your boat is rocking when the winds are blowing; when the waves are crashing He will not let you sink! He will never desert you under any circumstances.

Jesus says ‘Why are you scared? Do you have no faith?’ In other words don’t we trust Jesus? Ultimately all fear comes from a lack of trust in God.

Trust in the Lord is actually the overall message of the bible. We search for him, he finds us in our situations and we then need to trust him. Even though we don’t understand his mind or his plans as he tells Job at the end of all his difficulties. But he doesn’t expect us to as we weren’t there when he created the universe.

Our lives can seem to be like the back of a tapestry sometimes but God sees the front. So we need to learn to trust in the lord. Nothing else actually matters.

So there is this great contrast between the peace of Jesus in the boat who is actually asleep and the raging storm around it. Jesus is the eye of the storm. He is the deep peace within the storm.

Our storms are never a problem for Him! He can silence them with a word if He wants. But sometimes he allows them to continue bring fruitfulness in our lives that we may never understand in this world but certainly will in the next.

We hear that there were many boats on that sea that night. But of course only one contained Jesus. We have to make sure we are in that boat. When the Lord is in your boat, you know you will be safe.

The disciples ask: “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him! It’s the ultimate question of our lives.”

He is, of course, the God of the universe who has become man. Jesus fulfils the criteria of the Old Testament prophesies of the one who restrains the power of the mighty oceans.

He fulfils exactly the psalm that we heard in the stilling of the storms. He has power and dominion over not just this world and its forces but the entire universe. He is the master of all.

We all negotiate the choppy waters of life as we sail to the ‘other side’ which constitutes our life journey through time here in this world.

So let us remember to keep the peace of Christ in our thoughts, minds and hearts throughout all the various situations in life that we may encounter.

Glastonbury Shrine