June 24th, 2024

                                            AT TIMES JESUS SLEEPS
 
     Today the life of the faith and the Church encounter strong headwinds. It is a moment of trial which we can use in order to awaken from the mediocrity and superficiality we fall into at times. What affects us? There are those who become discouraged or who are scandalized and there are even those who try to tame the storm on their own. Jesus orders the winds and they obey him, but he takes the disciples to task for their cowardice and lack of faith.
 
Sisters and Brothers:
 
1. The night scene of the twelve men bent over their oars, who fight to the limits of their strength against the fury of nature, helps us see the seriousness of the moment. But their symbolism goes beyond the narrative. The storm is the image of the persecutions that the Church suffers and the fight that each soul has to undertake against temptations and difficulties. Small or large storms: worries, plans that don't turn out, difficulties in dealings with others, unexpected misfortunes. And then the temptation to think that God has for-gotten us and that "Jesus has fallen asleep" comes.
 
2. Why does Jesus stay asleep in the midst of the storm? We all want and hope for a miracle! But a religion of miracles would place God at the service of our interests and of our whims. Jesus knew that the miracles he performed on things could distract attention from his person. It is as if Jesus is asleep, laid back,     quiet, patient. We should be able to believe in him not needing other miracles other than the miracle of his love. In other words: Do not seek the miracles of the Lord, but the Lord of the miracles.
 
3. When we feel threatened by some evil we all go running to the Lord. The apostles' prayer was, in reality, a prayer of distrust, of worry and of doubt. If he was there, they should not have been afraid. When we are with Jesus we do not run the risk of perishing because he can save us even though he is asleep. "Why are you such cowards? - Jesus asks them - Don't you have any faith?" Fear is our greatest enemy, the greatest enemy of families and of communities. It paralyzes us, impedes creativity, the Gospel adventure. Someone was very right to say: "The only thing to fear is fear itself."
 
Cowardice is our greatest sin against the Faith. We do not dare to take everything that the Gospel tells us seriously. Ballet used to speak of a "disguised heresy" of those who defend Christianity, even aggressively, but who never open themselves to the fundamental demands of the Gospel. At times it seems that Jesus sleeps; it is the night of the Faith. It is the heartrending and exasperating silence of the Lord. Jesus wished to experience our fear in the night of his agony and he begged his Father: "My God, My God, Why have you abandoned me?" This is the high point of the Faith, when, in spite of the darkness that envelopes us we trust in him. It is the moment of naked Faith.
 
Source: ePriest.com / Best Practices and Homily Resources for Catholic Priests