July 01, 2014 Tuesday
13th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading:
Am 3:1-8; 4:11-12
Gospel: Mt 8:23–27
Jesus got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning a fierce storm hit the lake, with waves sweeping the boat. But Jesus was asleep.They woke him and cried, “Lord save us! We are lost!” But Jesus answered, “Why are you so afraid, you of little faith?” Then he stood up and rebuked the wind and sea; and it became completely calm.The disciples were astonished. They said, “What kind of man is he? Even the winds and the sea obey him.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A boat is about to sink. Some crew members begin calling upon the Lord for help, shouting: “Senyor Santo Nino de Cebu, Santo Nino Hesus de Praga, O Espiritu Santo, Pater Noster…” An atheist who knows nothing about God and religion protests and says, “Will you please stop calling for more passengers?” Those who know God will have a powerful ally to rely upon in times of peril.
In today’s Gospel reading strong winds scare the Apostles. But on the very same boat that threatens them calmly sleeps a person with the power to calm all their fears. But we hasten to add that faith in these situations is indispensable. Without faith these apostles will not bother waking Jesus up. Without faith, Jesus is just another passenger overloading the boat.
We already know what happens next. They will wake him up and Jesus will calm all their fears by rebuking the winds and the waves. Their trust in him will solidify and all the more they will believe in him. Faith builds up by accrual. One act of faith primes up God’s grace. Faith deepens faith. That is why those who have never executed an act of faith will never grow spiritually. Faith is acquired by accretion.
Without faith crisis will harden the heart for good and will coagulate whatever drop of faith left in one’s spiritual bucket. Problems will all the more convince a faithless person that indeed there is no God. If faith deepens faith, the lack of it will drain one’s spiritual reservoirs to the last drop.
Faith is fake if one remembers God when pinned to the wall but gets rid of him as soon as he is out trouble. One makes a fool of God by embracing him in crises and disposing of him in prosperity as a meddler and an intruder. But no one can fool God for good. Jesus said, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name…?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23). – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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