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     Jesus has finished his teaching on the Mount of Beatitudes and is now embarking on a preaching mission in Galilee.  He gets into a boat, which ultimately becomes a symbol of the church, and his disciples "follow" him.  The storm and the violent seas offer the opportunity to show the power of God over the elements of chaos, as in Genesis 1.  The disciples make a profession of faith when they ask Jesus to do something about the situation: "Lord, save us!  We are perishing!" But Jesus chides them about their fear of perishing, which motivates their profession of faith: "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?"

     This kind of scene, reflected in the traditional image of the Church as the "bark of Peter," has been repeated time and again across the centuries as political, economic, moral and spiritual trials have torn at the Church.  Right now, the sexual abuse crisis, which has been brewing since the 1980's, has been one of the major trials, but there are others such as the attempted destruction of Christianity in the Middle East by the ISIS movement.  The Church has survived through official persecution in the Roman Empire, the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of the Moslem empire, the Black Death plague of the 14th century, the Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution and two World Wars.  The boat is tough even if the passengers get terrified.  Right now, Pope Francis is doing his best to reassure us that Jesus will get us through the storm.  It will help if we put aside our fears and help bail out the boat!   AMEN