Saturday, January 31, 2015
3rd Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Hebrew 11:1-2,8-19
Gospel:Mk4:35–41
(…) Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat so that it was soon filled with water. And Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.
They woke him up and said, “Master, don’t you care if we sink?” As Jesus awoke, he rebuked the wind and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!” The wind dropped and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?”
But they were terrified and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated
Life Experience)
We are never sure about what the future holds for us. Thanks to this virtue called hope, we can reasonably expect that tomorrow will take us to our dreams. But hope can fuel false expectations. Optimism does not always give us full control of the future. Fear of the unknown can haunt us. As we hope against hope, suspense drives us to that exhausting emotional state, making us anxious about what the future dangles in exchange for our perseverance.
This was the experience of the Apostles while in the boat.When storm gathered and began to blow a gale, the waves spilled over into the boat and it was soon filled with water. The Apostles did not know what was in store for them that night. The only weapon left was hope because although they were seasoned fishermen at home in the sea, things were completely out of their control. Despite so much hope, however, they panicked finding themselves at the brink of death.
To those who have faith, however, hope assumes a certain degree of assurance. As St. Paul describes in his letter to the Hebrews, “Faith is the assurance of what we hope for, being certain of what we cannot see” (Heb 11:1–2, 8–19). As such faith sets us free from fear of the unknown. What was missing in the hope of the Apostles was the exercise of faith. Unless hope is exercised in faith, hope only engenders false expectations. Exercising their faith they woke Jesus up. It was then that Jesus was able to save them.
The Apostles’ boat experience is the summary of our life experience of helplessness. Look back to the times when you were in crisis but your faith was strong. Results may not have been favorable yet your relationship with God grew stronger. Look back to the times when you only had hope because your faith had died. Even if results were favorable you still ended up blaming God. Hope keeps us alive; faith brings us salvation.- Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:[email protected]. Website:www.frdan.org.
May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.