Choosing to Enter the Storm:
The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024
June 23, 2024
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Job 38:1-11; Psalm 107; 2 Corinthians 5:14-17; Mark 4:35-41
The readings give us images of storms and their stoppage. In Job, the Lord reminds him that it is He who controls the storms and puts up the boundaries. In Mark, it is Jesus, the Lord, who controls the storms and has power over the natural world. We can see the type of the disciples’ fear when it moves from terror of the uncontrollable to reverential fear of the power of Jesus. Jesus still leads the people on, “Let us move to the other side.”
Jesus assures us that with his presence, he can still our inner storms. He also assures us that we can enter any storm and find him at the center, which ought to keep us balanced and grounded in trust. Each of us has faced storms when we did not think we had much control or that there were too many pieces of chaos for us to see the way forward clearly. There are so many stimuli and voices in our world that compete for our attention and are designed to get us rattled and stay off track. That is the work of the evil spirit. We must acknowledge that we may feed the fury of the storm and make it feel more intense than it is. When we are in the middle of the turbulence, we can trust in Jesus, which deprives the situation of needless worry and anxiety. We can choose not to devote energy to parts of the storm to make it manageable.
Few can rightly see the way forward if they are looking at the elements of the storm. We get distracted with less important aspects and less central components, which stop us from detecting a pathway out of the storm. When we can catch our breath and regulate us, it brings us to our center, which helps us to see more clearly. With reduced tensions, we can begin to look for opportunities, and when we do that, we have reclaimed our power and authority. Life does not have to define us. We can define the particulars of life. We can see that we have choices and options, rather than being stripped of our authority.
Jesus is trying to get us to the other side. He is trying to lead us to a future that is safe, open, and filled with creative opportunities. It is when we recognize what he is doing, we can be filled with awe and reverence. We let go of the smaller obstacles in life, so we can embrace the future. He knows we get off track when we lose our center, which is the reason for us to return to our breath, the source of life, the place of home and connectedness, and he wants us to model his serenity during our storms. It is when we breathe and collect ourselves that we can see his support in our sufferings and struggles. Once we realize he is with us, our whole perception changes. Let us follow him to the other side. Let us go forward with him in trust. The whole universe is open to us who have eyes to see and ears to hear. We will continually say to each other, “Who is this who leads us forward in trust and comfort.?” We will revere him and find ourselves assured at the core of our beings.
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (Isaiah 49) Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The LORD called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
Tuesday: (2 Kings 10) Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiah with this message: “Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.
Wednesday: (2 Kings 22) The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan, "I have found the book of the law in the temple of the LORD." Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it.
Thursday: (2 Kings 24) Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his forebears had done.
Friday (2 Kings 25) In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his whole army advanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it, and built siege walls on every side.
Saturday (Acts 3) Peter and John were going up to the temple area for the three o’clock hour of prayer. And a man crippled from birth was carried and placed at the gate of the temple called “the Beautiful Gate” every day to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple.
Gospel:
Monday: (Luke 1) When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her.
Tuesday: (Matthew 7) Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets.“
Wednesday (Matthew 7) Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Thursday (Matthew 7) Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Friday (Matthew 8) When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.”
Saturday (John 21) Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and, when they had finished breakfast, said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Saints of the Week
June 24: Nativity of John the Baptist (first century) was celebrated on June 24th to remind us that he was six months older than Jesus, according to Luke. This day also serves to remind us that, as Christ is the light of the world, John must decrease just as the daylight diminishes. John’s birth is told by Luke. He was the son of the mature Elizabeth and the dumbstruck Zechariah. When John was named, Zechariah’s tongue was loosened and he sang the great Benedictus.
June 27: Cyril of Alexandria, bishop and doctor (376-444), presided over the Council of Ephesus that fought Nestorian the heresy. Cyril claimed, contrary to Nestorius, that since the divine and human in Jesus were so closely united that it was appropriate to refer to Mary was the mother of God. Because he condemned Nestorius, the church went through a schism that lasted until Cyril's death. Cyril's power, wealth, and theological expertise influenced many as he defended the church against opposing philosophies.
June 28: Irenaeus, bishop and martyr (130-200) was sent to Lyons as a missionary to combat the persecution the church faced in Lyons. He was born in Asia Minor and became a disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of the Apostle John. Irenaeus asserted that the creation was not sinful by nature but merely distorted by sin. As God created us, God redeemed us. Therefore, our fallen nature can only be saved by Christ who took on our form in the Incarnation. Irenaeus refutation of heresies laid the foundations of Christian theology.
June 29: Peter and Paul, apostles (first century) are lumped together for a feast day because of their extreme importance to the early and contemporary church. Upon Peter's faith was the church built; Paul's efforts to bring Gentiles into the faith and to lay out a moral code was important for successive generations. It is right that they are joined together as their work is one, but with two prongs. For Jesuits, this is a day that Ignatius began to recover from his illness after the wounds he sustained at Pamplona. It marked a turning point in his recovery.
This Week in Jesuit History
- June 23, 1967. Saint Louis University's Board of Trustees gathered at Fordyce House for the first meeting of the expanded Board of Trustees. SLU was the first Catholic university to establish a Board of Trustees with a majority of lay members.
- June 24, 1537. Ignatius, Francis Xavier, and five of the companions were ordained priests in Venice, Italy.
- June 25, 1782. The Jesuits in White Russia were permitted by the Empress Catherine to elect a General. They chose Fr. Czerniewicz. He took the title of Vicar General, with the powers of the General.
- June 26, 1614. By a ruse of the Calvinists, the book, "Defensio Fidei" by Francis Suarez was condemned by the French Parliament. In addition, in England James I ordered the book to be publicly burned.
- June 27, 1978. Bernard Lisson, a mechanic, and Gregor Richert, a parish priest, were shot to death at St Rupert's Mission, Sinoia, Zimbabwe.
- June 28, 1591. Fr. Leonard Lessius's teaching on grace and predestination caused a great deal of excitement and agitation against the Society in Louvain and Douai. The Papal Nuncio and Pope Gregory XIV both declared that his teaching was perfectly orthodox.
- June 29, 1880. In France the law of spoliation, which was passed at the end of March, came into effect and all the Jesuit Houses and Colleges were suppressed.
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