Word to the Wise
Tuesday, July 4, 2017 - Tuesday in the 13th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 19:15-29 and Matt 8:23-27]TUESDAY, JULY 4, 2017 TUESDAY IN THE THIRTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (Independence Day U.S.A. - Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati OP) [Genesis 19:15-29 and Matthew 8:23-27] "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?" [Matthew] The story of the calming of the seas is recounted differently in the gospels. But the event was definitely part of the traditions about Jesus available to the evangelists. (In the Gospel According to John, it comes after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.). Scripture scholars call this a "nature miracle." I'm sure the Weather Channel would love to know the secret, but it's no secret. God is master of the wind and seas. What is crucial in this is not to focus on the event but on the person. The question asked by the disciples shows that their faith was not yet complete! (I cannot imagine sleeping in a storm-tossed boat, but Jesus manages it.) Once he has calmed the weather, they still have to ask what sort of person he is? However, magic was part of their world and Jesus' "magic" was still new to them, even if Matthew was writing in retrospect. Jesus asks in one of the other accounts, "Why were you afraid, O you of little faith?" All I can say is, "I'm just glad I'm in the same boat with Jesus." A plaque I once gave to a friend said, "Sometimes the Lord calms the storm and sometimes the Lord lets the storm rage and calms his child." In either case I want to be in that same boat with the Lord. AMEN