12th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B
Today's gospel reading tells us the story of how Jesus rebuked the raging storm when his disciples were afraid. This gospel story reminds us to deepen our faith and trust in God in the most trying times and moments of our life. Faith is a strong belief in God shown in our thoughts, words and actions. Trust means having firm confidence in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of God. So how strong is our belief in God? How firm is our confidence in Him? How do we deepen our faith and trust in God especially during the storms of our life? How strong is our faith in God when faced with threats, danger and trials in life? How firm is our trust in God when going through persecution, difficulties and hardships in life?
We are called to deepen our faith and trust in God in dealing with personal problems in our lives like in times of doubt, worries, stages of human development, transitions in life, uncertainties, struggles, crisis, health issues, psychological problems, insecurities etc.
We are called to deepen our faith and trust in God in dealing with our relationships with others - that is in our encounters, bad experiences, misunderstandings, betrayal, rejections, quarrels etc.
We are called to deepen our faith and trust in God when facing the realities of our twisted world like when we deal with secularism, egoism, the cancel culture, persecution of religion, false ideologies and teachings, corruption, insincerity etc.
My brothers sisters in Christ, our journey as disciples of Christ entails journeying with Jesus through the storms of life and not journey with Him around the storms of life, so that we can understand and appreciate God’s blessings, graces and mercies upon us. Jesus’s example to us today with His actions of calmness in the midst of the storm and His rebuking of the storm reminds us that God is with us and will never abandon us but we need to continually deepen our faith and trust in Him daily through Prayer, Patience and Perseverance in order to face the challenges and storms of life that comes to us. Amen!
