Reflection On Mark 4: 35-41

The violent storm can allude to any crisis that can happen to any Christian: loss of a loved one, terminal illness, financial ruin, etc. Indirectly, it poses to any Christian the question of Jesus: why are you afraid?
Have you no faith? Naturally, these questions do not mean that nothing bad can happen to the believers of Jesus for that is daily contradicted by experience. But these questions bring home the realization that no storm however furious it may appear to be, is fatal. All of us know that the see and storms will obey God because they are only part of the creation. We also know that there is no problem too big for God to solve, yet our worries have no ends and our troubles too trouble us because most of us prefer to fight them out on our own. The disciples are specimen of the common man. Even when Jesus was with them, they are frightened of a storm! Abram’s faith is the perfect solution. If only man left all his worries and pains to God!
Faith is the sounding theme of today’s reading. Faith is very basic to our lives: not only religious faith but faith in general. There is a fine scriptural definition on faith in the section of Hebrews “Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for and conviction on about things we do not see”. I think that is remarkable description of faith. It always involves something we don’t see, but we have a conviction it does exist. There are shining is of on faith is Old Testament: we all know it would be Abraham who would be marched across the sacred page. He is the one who obeyed and followed that challenging call from God at a time when people were not accustomed to God speaking to them. He was the most hopeful man and his hopes were vindicated. Sarah, his wife, follows right behind. She is remembered for her trust in God’s promise that she would have a child in her old age. Each of us is somewhere in that long lines of people who still have confident, assurance of what we hope for and solid convictions about the things we do not see.
Duglas Hyde, an atheist and editor of a famous communist newspaper in England, once came across a poor lady going into a shrine of Our Lady in tears and coming out of it a few minutes later, smiling. What a miracle! He inquired. She narrated: “I have only my mother. She is sick. I do house chores and earn a living. Today she is sicklier; so I can’t go for today’s work. There is no money for medicine and for today’s meal. But Mary has offered to help. “If there is someone like this to help at every moment of need, then there is meaning in living as believer. Duglas became a Catholic along with his wife and wrote the book ‘I believe.’ whatever happens in our life, in the ultimate analysis is used by God for our own good. As long as we are in Jesus’ boat through a strong faith and a constant trust we have nothing to fear.
Question Yourself:
How do you keep up your faith in Jesus?
Are you in the boat of Jesus?


Comments

Post a Comment

write your comments here!!

Popular posts from this blog

Reflection On Mark 8: 11-13

There is a proverb which states, “There are none so blind as those who won’t see.”  It means if your mind is set on one direction, it will be almost impossible to convince you of something different. Such is the frame of mind of the Pharisees concerning Jesus. When they approach Him and ask for a sign from heaven, their mind is already made up that Jesus is fake. Their intention is to expose Him as such and thus to undermine his authority and even hopefully, to completely discredit Him and have Him lose popular support. The Pharisees were the perennial negative critics of Jesus. They were the many little crosses He had to accept and carry every day prior to His big cross. Notice how they boldly stepped forward here and immediately started to argue with Jesus. They refused to take the Lord’s words at face value. They claimed a sign from the heavens would enable them to place their faith in the Lord, but Jesus knew that even the most spectacular signs would not convince them to a...
Read more

Reflection On Mark 1: 12-15

In the reading, we get two messages for today. Jesus’ forty days of wilderness and a call to repentance.  Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness paralleled Israel’s forty years in the wilderness. In both the instances, there is the apparent ‘absence of God.’ The presence of God emerges as a result of struggle and testing. Satan tests Jesus in the wilderness, whereas Israel tested God there. Our Lord’s suffering, hunger, loneliness and humiliation at the hands of His enemies were all for us. This very thought should make us feel gladly welcome the little bit of suffering and humiliation we are to take for ourselves in our routines. One may not be in strict fasting from food and drink, yet there are subtle ways of observing penance in our daily lives – a controlled temper, less uncharitable talks, a little help, etc. which will help to keep our unruly minds and bodies in cheek, while at the same time it will show that we are grateful to our loving Savior for all that He suffered for u...
Read more

Reflection On Luke 4: 24-30

Today’s readings speak to the subject of God’s broad mindedness in the person of Naaman. He was the Syrian army commander who became the recipient of God’s merciful healing. Jesus was totally aware of this man’s is having been cured of leprosy and, In turn, made comment on the meaning of this healing. Those legally loyal Jewish people became very angry with Jesus as they listened to the virtues of this foreigner being extolled over their own. We, too, can fall into this same sin of narrow-mindedness. Do we think, for example, that Catholics have a monopoly on the whole truth and nothing but the truth, while Protestants, Orthodox, Jewish and other people are all in unyielding error? If we truly feel that way, may God help us. Catholics don’t own God; either do the Protestants or the Jews or any other group. Not even the fundamentalists can claim exclusive rights to God. God is for all people. The Jews thought that the Messiah would be for the Jews only. Since Jesus did ...
Read more