Twelfth Sunday in OT 'B'

The role of God in calming the storms of life both in the history of the Church and in the lives of Christians is the central theme of the readings for this Storm Sunday.

In the First Reading, God addresses Job for the first time, questioning his right to challenge God's authority and leading Job deeper and deeper into the mystery of creation. We hear how the Lord speaks to Job whose life was devastated by storms of illness, the deaths of his dear ones and the total loss of his possessions. “Out of the storm,” God reminds Job that He is in control.

Today’s Responsorial Psalm picks up the storm theme and tells us how the Lord saves the sailors caught up in the high waves of a violent storm by “hushing the storm to a gentle breeze.” “They who sailed the sea in ships ... saw the works of the Lord and His wonders in the abyss.” Paul who “rode the storm” of rejection from his former friends, also experienced storms of violent hostility from the Jews who refused to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah. In the Second Reading Saint Paul explains that Jesus died for us to make us a “new creation.” In order to receive this gift, we have to respond to His love by living for Him in all situations of our lives. In other words, Paul celebrates the saving significance of Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection and of our participation in the mystery.

In today’s Gospel, Mark assures the first-century believers that nothing can harm the Church as long as the risen Lord is with them. He describes how, by a single commanding word, Jesus stilled a storm on the Sea of Galilee, returned the sea to its natural order and saved His followers from drowning. The incident reminds us to keep Jesus in our life’s boat and to seek His help in the storms of life.

We all experience different types of violent storms in our lives: physical storms, emotional storms, and spiritual storms. We face storms of sorrow, doubt, anxiety, worry, temptation, and passion. Only Jesus can still these storms. Jesus can give us real peace in the storm of sorrow. When we are totally depressed with sorrow Jesus assures us of the glory of the life to come. Jesus consoles us at the loss of our loved ones with the assurance of eternal life for them in the Heavenly home of God the Father where we, too, will live one day.

When the storms of doubt seek to uproot the very foundations of our Faith, Jesus is there to still that storm, revealing to us his Divinity and the authority behind the words of the Holy Scripture. Jesus gives us peace in a storm of doubt, tension, and uncertainty, as long as we humbly submit to His guidance. He gives us peace in the storms of anxiety and worry about ourselves, about the unknown future, and about those we love.