12TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people. LK 7:16

JOB 38:1,8-11

My Soul's Beloved,

Thank You, Lord, for Your Bride, the Church - for Your Word that she enfolds in fullness in her bosom. For the Holy Spirit who abides in her and whose breath sustains, enlivens, and speaks divine truth to her, fills her with divine wisdom, animates her, and enables her to preach and teach these perennial truths to the children born of her and to those who desire to be taught by her. She is universal and all people of goodwill find a home in her.

A storm at sea is a terrible sight to behold and if a boat is caught in the middle of its churning and wild fury it can be tossed about and smashed to pieces. Yet O Lord, You are the Master of the sea, the waves, and the winds as You made known to Job and to us as well today.

All the evil and the fury of the fierce and destructive anger of Satan is as nothing before the God of Love, Truth, and Mercy. Often in life, we are caught in the middle of the storm and we are terrified, petrified, and feel helpless and hopeless. In times like these, Beloved, which we will face periodically in life let us recall the words You spoke to Job: 

Who pent up the sea behind closed doors
when it leapt tumultuous out of the womb,
when I wrapped it in a robe of mist
and made black clouds its swaddling bands;
when I marked the bounds it was not to cross
and made it fast with a bolted gate?
Come thus far, I said, and no farther:
here your proud waves shall break.

God our Father is the Creator of the heavens and the universe, the seas, the earth and all in it. All was created by one Word, His Eternal Word that issued forth from Him in the Breath of Love that is His Holy Spirit. The same Father, Word, and Spirit created me and I belong to God. You O Lord, are not only My Creator but my Father, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier - what have I to fear? Nothing. O Lord my God, I believe in You, I hope in You and I trust You and I know that I will never be put to shame for the Lord my God is with me now and forever.

PSALM 106(107):23-26,28-32

Some sailed to the sea in ships
to trade on the mighty waters.
These men have seen the Lord’s deeds,
the wonders he does in the deep.

For he spoke; he summoned the gale,
tossing the waves of the sea
up to heaven and back into the deep;
their souls melted away in their distress.

Then they cried to the Lord in their need
and he rescued them from their distress.
He stilled the storm to a whisper:
all the waves of the sea were hushed.

They rejoiced because of the calm
and he led them to the haven they desired.
Let them thank the Lord for his love,
for the wonders he does for men.

O give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-17

My Soul's Beloved,

It is amazing when we contemplate Your power in taking one like Saul full of an all-consuming hate for Christians and making of him a new creation - Paul, the greatest of all the Apostles. To this day, my Lord, we see the power of the Gospel and the power of the Truth that gently but inexorably draws the greatest enemies of the Church into her fold. This is why we must never cease to pray for those who oppose her so strongly they seek her destruction and this is a prayer most pleasing to You and most readily answered by You. You came to seek and save the sinner and You will not rest until all those whom the Father desires to enter His Kingdom come to the knowledge of Truth and be saved. You will not rest until every sinner for whom You lay down Your life is restored to the sheepfold.

Your love O Lord, the love of the Father is revealed on the Cross planted on the hill of Calvary and it is from this mount that love, life, and mercy flow drawing all humanity to God through You and the Holy Spirit. 

The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all men should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them.

MARK 4:35-41

My Soul's Beloved,

The earlier chapters in the Gospel of St. Mark are a veritable roller-coaster where we see Your power over diseased bodies, minds, spirits, and souls. With just a word or a touch evil spirits flee, bodies are restored to perfect health, and mental illnesses vanish but this miracle of calming the storm is the first one that manifests Your power over nature. You have spent the day preaching and teaching and at the end of the day, leaving the crowds behind, You say to Your disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ 

These Twelve are Your particular friends. They have eaten with You, witnessed all Your miracles, You have taught and preached to them privately and informally and they have heard You preach and teach the crowds. One would imagine they would have some inkling by now that You were more than a rabbi and a prophet. They ought to begin to sense that You were more than just a good and holy man for they saw that You possessed the power of God. 

The people in the crowd have different motives for following You and once they are satisfied that their needs are met they return to their homes. The disciples however stay with You. St. Mark writes: And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. What does the writer mean when he says, just as he was, in the boat? Perhaps he means that the disciples had even until then failed to recognize that You were both God and Man despite all they had witnessed. We are also told that there were other boats with You yet he says nothing about these boats after this brief mention of them. We are only told about this boat in which You and they were caught in the storm that almost swamped the boat.  You ensure that the boat of the Church You founded will come safely home.

It had been a long tiring day and You O Lord, were physically, mentally, and spiritually drained and You were fast asleep with Your dear head resting on a cushion. At least four of the twelve disciples - Peter, Andrew, James, and John were seasoned fishermen and familiar with the storms that suddenly came up in the Lake of Galilee and would have seen the boat safely to the other side but the others seeing the violence of the wind, the waves gave into their fears and panicked. They roused You from Your slumber and reproached You saying, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ You woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Only then did You turn to them and say, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’

Beloved, at various intervals in my life terrible storms have come up and every vestige of reason and faith takes flight. I get so caught up in my worries, my fears, my anxieties, and I lose my peace. My mind and my spirit churn restlessly like the wind and the waves and I lose all sight of You and Your presence within me. In moments like these O Lord, grant me the grace to remember that You are always with me and no harm will come to me. Let me wait calmly knowing that You will see me through every storm and while I wait may I recall and give thanks and praise for every grace and blessing I have received and for every answered prayer. Thank You, Lord.