The Storm at Sea
One evening after Jesus had preached that day He said to His apostles, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” The apostles and He got on the little boat. They began to sail and Jesus fell asleep. They were in the middle of crossing the lake when a great storm arose with strong gusts of wind rocking the small boat back and forth. Huge waves splashed from all sides getting into the boat, and they feared it would sink. The apostles ran to Jesus for help, Who was sleeping in the back part of the ship on a pillow. "Master, does it not matter to you that we perish?" As Jesus stood up and rebuked the wind saying, “Peace, be still.” And immediately the winds died down and all was made calm. Jesus turned to His apostles and asked, “Why are you fearful? Have you not faith yet?” And the apostles were filled with fear and they asked each other, “Who is this that both the winds and sea obey Him?” - St. Mark 4: 35-40
What does all this mean? When Jesus said to His apostles “Let us go over to the other side of the lake”, it is He who is inviting us to go with Him to the opposite side which is Heaven. The boat is the Catholic Church. The lake is this life. The storm of course is the troubles of this life, sin, and the devil. In our life these “storms” arrive and it seems as if it does not matter to Jesus if it swallows us up. What we do not realize is that Jesus is God and that He knows exactly what is going on. Just like the apostles, He does these things to test our faith in Him. What faith in Him? Faith in that Jesus in the boat, if Jesus is in the boat then the boat will not sink no matter what happens. Like Jesus said to Peter, “Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I shall build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mat 16:18) What is there to fear then? If we are in the Catholic Church, the “boat”, with Him then it will not sink. Still, if we are not, then we have even more to fear than the apostles did. That is why Jesus invites us to go on the boat in the very beginning. Why does Jesus just sleep during the “storm”? He appears to be sleeping as He waits for us to pray to Him for help. As soon as the apostles awoke Him for help, He immediately calmed the merciless sea. We do not need to be as the apostles wondering of His power, for we know who He is. If when we pray to Him and He still does not seem to wake up, you must still try for He knows exactly what is going on and is only testing your faith and trust in Him.