1: “No! Jesus who calmed the storm will save
me!” The Mississippi River was flooding its banks, and the waters were
rising swiftly around Dorothy’s house. The waters had gotten to the level
of the front porch where Dorothy was standing when a man in a rowboat
came by and called to Dorothy, “Hop in and I’ll take you to high ground.”
Dorothy replied, “No, Jesus who calmed the storm in the sea will save me from
flood waters!” The river continued to rise to the second story windows and
Dorothy, looking out, saw a powerboat come up. The man in the powerboat called
to Dorothy, “Hop in and I’ll take you to high ground.” Dorothy replied, “No, my
Jesus will save me!” The river had now risen to the roof of the house. Dorothy
was sitting on the ridge at the top of the house with the waters swirling
around her feet. She saw a helicopter fly over, and the people inside yelled
over a bull horn, “Grab the rope and climb in, and we’ll take you to high
ground.” Dorothy replied, “No, Jesus will save me!” The river continued to
rise. Finally, the floodwaters engulfed the house and Dorothy was
drowned. The next thing Dorothy knew, she was standing before Jesus. In anger,
she asked Jesus, “I put my trust in You. Why have you forsaken me?” And to her
Jesus replied, “What do you want from Me? I sent you a rowboat, a powerboat,
and a helicopter!” (http://www.inspiration.com).
— Today’s Gospel tells us that we have to act promptly, trusting in the power
of Jesus and seeking his help as the apostles did.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
2: The Edmund Fitzgerald buried in Lake
Superior: In 1976, the songwriter Gordon Lightfoot recorded a haunting
ballad in honor of, and as a tribute to, a ship and its crew members who lost
their lives. He called it “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
The Edmund Fitzgerald was a giant ore-freighter, 729 feet in
length. It was the largest carrier on the Great Lakes from 1958 until 1971.
The Fitzgerald was labeled “the pride of the American Flag.”
On November 10, 1975, the Fitzgerald was hauling a heavy load
of ore to Detroit, Michigan, when it ran into a severe storm. This storm
generated 27-30-foot waves. During the evening hours the ship disappeared from
radar screens; apparently it sank in a matter of minutes. It now rests on the
bottom of Lake Superior, broken in two with the bow upright and the stern
upside down, still loaded with its cargo of ore and all 29 hands. Today’s
Gospel describes how Jesus saved the apostles from a possible wreck in the Sea
of Galilee (Confer # 2, 3, & 4). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
3: Sales executive of U. S. Airlines serving as deacon in
a correctional center: Frank Kirchberg of Memphis retired a few years
ago from the post of a sales executive with U.S. Air Lines. It was the end of
an honorable career during which he had raised a fine family. But retirement
gave him time to reflect on his life thus far. He had gone to Mass regularly
and tried to do the good things and avoid the bad, but he realized he had not
done all he might have “as a caring Christian and Catholic.” “When you look at
the record closely,” he told the editor of Common Sense, “you will
find that a lot of your good Catholic upbringing might perhaps have been lying
inert for many years inside, you waiting for this phase of your life to
blossom.” So what did he do? In the mid-1970s he enrolled in the corps of those
preparing to be ordained permanent deacons in the diocese of Memphis. He could
have signed up for a lesser service – Mass-server, lector or Eucharistic
minister; but he preferred a greater commitment. The preparatory course gave
him a different slant on life. After he was ordained to the diaconate in 1978,
he was happy to be assigned to work with young lawbreakers committed to
correctional institutions. Experience in sales and as a parent helped him to
get on the same wavelength as these youngsters, to whom he became a “father
figure.” He has profited as much as they have. “Through the diaconate
experience,” he says, “I have been drawn closer to God through a stronger
spiritual life, and it is to the point now where that spiritual life is the
major emphasis in my thinking.” — When we reach a stage in life when we think
we are finished, God often calls us to a second and even greater career. Be
ready for such a call. Maybe St. Paul had you in mind when he wrote, “The old
order has passed away; now all is new.” (2 Cor 5:17: today’s second reading).
-Father Robert F. McNamara. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
5. “Who is this man? Even the winds and the sea
obey Him! “ Four women were sitting discussing their sons. The first proudly
stated that her son was a bishop, so when he enters a room, people address him
as “Your Excellency.”
The second, not to be outdone, said that her son is an
archbishop, so when he enters the room, people address him as “Your
Grace.”
The third quietly stated that her son was a cardinal, so when he enters the
room, the people say: “Your Eminence.”
The fourth woman said: “Well my son is 7 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 430
pounds, and when he walks into a room people say: “My God!”
6. The hurricane prayer: A hurricane had
struck. People were huddled together in a Church building for safety. A
preacher was praying with great oratorical effects in the midst of this violent
storm, crying out, “Send us the Spirit of the children of Israel, the children
of Moses, the children of the Promised land.” At this, an old man with less
oratory but more directness prayed, “Lord, don’t send nobody. Come Yourself.
This ain’t no time for children.”
7. He trusted his wife: A man and his
wife were sitting in the living room and he said to her, “Just so you know, I
never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids
from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.” His wife got up,
unplugged the TV and threw out all of his beer.
8. A woman was seated next to a priest on an
airplane during storm. The plane was bouncing up and down. The terrified woman
said to the priest beside her: “Can’t you do something about this awful storm?”
The priest looked at her and said: “I’m in sales, not in Management,” pointing
upward with his finger.
25- Additional anecdotes:
1) Fourteen people in the Rembrandt’s painting of storm
in the sea: In the Gardiner Museum in Boston there is a painting by
Rembrandt entitled “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.” It is Rembrandt’s
interpretation of this scene. It shows panic etched on the faces of the
disciples, as their small vessel is being raised up on a high wave, about to be
crashed down. Two of the disciples are attempting to rouse Jesus who is asleep
in the stern of the boat. But if you look more closely, you will discover that
there is something that is not quite right. There are too many people in the
picture. So you count them. There are fourteen. There should only be thirteen
(twelve disciples and Jesus). But instead there are fourteen. It is then that
you notice that one of the men in the boat is Rembrandt. He has painted himself
into the picture. He has placed himself in the same boat. — Which is precisely
what we should do. It is the way that we are supposed to interpret this
passage. We are in the boat with Jesus, faithful but frightened. There is no
immunity for any of us. We are caught up in the same fix. I suspect most of us
would rather be numbered with the exceptions. Either we would like to believe
that storms will never strike us or that Faith will never fail us. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
2) A fishing ship in a perfect storm: October
1991, the Andrea Gail, a seventy-two-foot-long fishing boat, with a
365 horsepower turbo-charged diesel engine, left a New England port headed for
the Atlantic Ocean. She was going on what was supposed to be another routine
fishing trip. But it was to be her last voyage. Why? Because she ran into the
most powerful and dangerous force on earth – a full-blown hurricane on the open
seas. An ocean hurricane is so powerful that the combined nuclear arsenals of
the United States and the former Soviet Union, do not contain enough energy to
keep that hurricane going for one day. One average hurricane encompasses a
million cubic miles of atmosphere and could provide all of the electrical power
needed by the United States for up to four years. Winds can be so high that
when they hit the coast, people have been sandblasted to death. So much rain
can fall – up to 5 inches per hour – birds have been known to drown in
mid-flight as the water clogs their upward-facing nostrils. The Andrea
Gail had the misfortune of running into of all things the storm
named Grace. It was a storm so powerful that it had the highest
significant wave heights ever measured or calculated from 1899 to 1991. In
fact, this storm has been given the nickname “The Perfect Storm.” This storm
brought waves ten stories high with pressure of up to six tons per square foot
of water. The winds were measured at 120 miles an hour. The Andrea Gail never
had a chance because she had encountered the “perfect storm.” — Well 2,000
years ago there occurred in the Sea of Galilee the first “perfect storm.” It
was perfect for this reason: not because it was as violent, but it was far more
important. Because this storm taught twelve disciples then, and hopefully will
teach us today, how to navigate the ship of our life through the stormiest of
seas. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
3) Storms of divorce devastating families: Some marriages
don’t make it through the storm, and the wreckage can be devastating.
Especially for women. A recent study showed that women and children experience
a 73% decline in their standard of living the year of their divorce. Ironically
men’s standard of living increases 42%. Just as important is the fact that more
and more couples find that divorce is no real solution to their problems. In
her book, Second Chances: Men, Women and Children a Decade after Divorce, Judith
Wallerstein writes, “Divorce is deceptive. Legally it is a simple event, but
psychologically it is a chain, sometimes a never-ending chain, of events,
relocations and radically shifting relationships strung through time.”
[Wallerstein’s quote is taken from Patricia Hersch, “Ten Years After: A
Sobering Report on Divorce,” Psychology Today (July, 1989), p.
78.] Marriage counselors who, a decade ago, were advising couples to go ahead
and part are now recommending couples hang in there, and try to make it through
the storm. Of course, that has been God’s plan all along. Marriage problems are
a storm many people are going through. –Today’s Gospel tells us that when the
storms of life are raging, Jesus does care. When it seems you cannot hold on a
moment longer, God does care. When the waters threaten to engulf, He does care.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
4) “Lord, I can do nothing. Will you take care of me?”
Do you know how that truth became real to J.C. Penny, the founder of the retail
chain that bears his name? In his autobiography, Fifty Years With the
Golden Rule, Penny talks about being in a sanitarium one night when he
thought he was dying. He wrote several letters and went to bed, fairly certain
that he would not be alive the following morning. But he was still alive when
morning came. So he got up and started to walk down the hall. Then he heard people
singing: “Be not dismayed whate’er betide. God will take care of you.” A few
people were having an early morning prayer meeting, and he slipped in and sat
down in the back. Someone read quietly from the Bible, and led a prayer. Before
long, Mr. Penny began a spontaneous prayer. He prayed, “Lord, I can do nothing.
Will you take care of me?” In the next few moments something did indeed happen
to him. In his own words, “It was a miracle.” What happened was that J.C. Penny
had met the One who can calm life’s storms. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
5) Storms caused by unexpected death of dear ones: One
famous study, called “Broken Heart,” researched the mortality rate of 4,500
widowers within six months of their wives’ deaths. Compared with other men the
same age, the widowers had a mortality rate 40 percent higher. What greater
storm can we go through than the loss of a loved one? In Ernest
Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream, an anguished father mourns the
loss of his oldest son. The boy has been killed in war. The father is
grief-stricken. He will not eat or sleep. He walks alone on the beach for
hours. A friend tries to persuade him to leave the beach and begin to come out
of his depression. The father says to his friend, “I have been out here all day
thinking about him and wanting to have him with me always. I know I have got to
let him go. I have got to, but I cannot do it today.” Some of you can identify
with that father’s deep hurt. The loss of a loved one is a dreadful storm. —
Today’s Gospel tells us that when the storms of life are raging, Jesus does
care. When it seems you cannot hold on a moment longer, God does care. When the
waters threaten to engulf, He does care.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
6) “Whenever I see a black storm cloud coming, I fall
apart inside. On May 31, 1985, a tornado system touched down in the
northwestern corner of Pennsylvania. The wind whipped at 250 miles-per-hour,
tossing trees like matchsticks, throwing automobiles into the air, and killing
fifteen people in two counties. What should have been a Friday afternoon of
relaxation turned into a weekend of horror. The little town of Cooperstown,
Pennsylvania, was in the direct path of a twister. A retired woman by the name
of Isabella Stewart watched nervously as the low, black clouds blew in. The
wind blew furiously. Suddenly a string of oak trees began to topple like
dominos. The woman went for her car keys, but the wind was too wild to go
outside. In a sheer act of panic, Mrs. Stewart reached for the only tangible
means of comfort and order. She grabbed her purse. Then she sat in a chair and
waited for the worst to happen. Fortunately she did not lose her life, although
her dog and cat were never seen again. The brief storm was devastating in a
region that was already under economic distress. Over ten years later, Mrs.
Stewart says, “Whenever I see a black storm cloud coming, I fall apart inside.
You can’t know quite how that feels unless you have been through it yourself.” —
No wonder that people in the first century identified the unruly powers of
nature as demonic powers. That is why Jesus shouted at the storm as if the
clouds were possessed by a demon.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
7) A ship caught in a dangerous storm on the high seas.
Victor Hugo, who is famous for his novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
also wrote a story called “Ninety-Three.” It tells of a ship caught in a
dangerous storm on the high seas. At the height of the storm, the frightened
sailors heard a terrible crashing noise below the deck. They knew at once that
this new noise came from a cannon, part of the ship’s cargo, that had broken
loose. It was moving back and forth with the swaying of the ship, crashing into
the side of the ship with terrible impact. Knowing that it could cause the ship
to sink, two brave sailors volunteered to make the dangerous attempt to retie
the loose cannon. They knew the danger of a shipwreck from the cannon was
greater than the fury of the storm. — That is like human life. Storms of life
may blow about us, but it is not these exterior storms that pose the gravest
danger. It is the terrible corruption that can exist within us which can
overwhelm us. The furious storm outside may be overwhelming, but what is going
on inside can pose the greater threat to our lives. Our only hope lies in
conquering that wild enemy. Unfortunately storms that rage within us we cannot
cure by ourselves. It takes the power of God’s love, as revealed in Jesus
Christ. He is our only hope of stilling the tempest that can harm our souls and
cripple our lives. That’s what the disciples learned this day on the Sea of
Galilee.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
8) “Every one of us is gonna get a bad report.” Hamilton
Jordan is not involved in politics. But he has immersed body and soul in the
promotion and funding of cancer research. Part of the shift is because he,
himself, contracted cancer three separate times before the age of 50. I heard
him tell his story in a variety of settings on Thursday. And each time he told
it, one line stood out. Concerning what it’s like to hear bad news from
somebody with a white coat and a stethoscope, he said: “It’s not that big a
deal anymore, given that (sooner or later) every one of us is gonna get a bad
report.” — Which pretty much puts us in the same boat. That’s life. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
9) Alligator in the pond: The Jones family moved
to a new house in south Florida near a pond. There were two other houses on the
pond, one owned by a doctor. One day, shortly after they moved in, the Jones’
three children went swimming in the pond. Suddenly, out of nowhere a
four-hundred-pound alligator appeared. The doctor happened to be out and saw
the alligator. He yelled to the children. Two of them heard the cry and headed
for shore. The third child, Mike, was under the water using his diving gear to
look beneath the surface. The other two children got near the shore, looked
back, and saw the alligator bearing down like a torpedo on their brother. One
of them started back to warn Mike, but it was too late. The alligator was upon
the boy. He was about to swallow him whole, but when the alligator chomped down
on the boy’s head, he found the diving gear distasteful and spit him out. Now
Mike swam as fast as he could underwater toward the shore. The alligator swam
round and round in circles trying to find the boy. When Mike surfaced, the
alligator located him and headed toward him again. Mike was about twenty feet
from shore when the alligator caught him, this time by the feet. By this time,
Mike’s mother, who was on shore, had waded out to where the boy was. She
grabbed his extended hands and started to pull. It was a four-hundred-pound
alligator pulling in one direction and a one-hundred-pound mother pulling in
the other. The flippers which were distasteful to the alligator caused him to
let go. The mother won the tug of war. Today, Mike’s only evidence of the
horrifying event is scars on his head and feet from the alligator bites and
scars on his wrists where his mother’s nails had dug in when she pulled him to
safety. Life seemed good to the Joneses. — The family had moved to a new home.
The children went swimming in a pond. Then wham, slam — a monster appeared on
the scene. How can this happen? How can life be so good one moment and so
filled with horror the next? Yet it happens and we feel that we cannot handle
it. Sometimes tragedy strikes suddenly, and we feel abandoned and unable to
handle what life brings us. God is there, but we do not feel His presence at
the time.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
10) “Don’t be afraid — I’ve been watching you all the
time.” Linda Sledge recalls a day from her childhood that she will never
forget. She was playing in the sand of a Hawaiian beach near where she lived,
building towers with her red shovel and bucket. She had wandered away from her
parents. Suddenly a great wave knocked her off her feet into the ocean. She
managed to get up on her feet, but the sand was flowing out from under her
feet. Then another wave struck, and she had no footing. She cried out for her
parents. All she could see was the vast ocean ahead. She thought she was
doomed. Just then two strong arms reached out from behind and pulled her to
safety. “Don’t be afraid,” her father said. “I’ve been watching you all the
time.” (The Clergy Journal). — Those are Christ’s words to us. He is not
sleeping. He is watching over us. Why are we afraid? Have we no faith? Fr. Tony
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
11) “No matter what, son, I’ll always be there for you.” The
1989 Armenian earthquake needed only four minutes to flatten that nation and
kill 30,000 people. Moments after that earthquake had stopped, a father raced
to an elementary school to save his son. When he arrived, he saw the building
had been leveled. Looking at that mass of stones and rubble, his heart sank
until he remembered a promise he had made to his little boy, “No matter what
happens, I’ll always be there for you.” Driven by that promise he found the
area closest to his son’s room and began to pull back the rocks and dig out the
dirt. Other parents arrived and began sobbing for their children. They were
saying things like, “It’s too late. You know they’re dead. You can’t help.”
Even a police officer encouraged him to give up. But that dad refused. For
eight hours, then sixteen, then thirty-two, and then thirty-six hours he dug.
His hands were raw, his energy was gone, but he refused to quit. Finally, after
thirty-eight gut-wrenching hours, he pulled back a boulder and heard his son’s
voice. He called out his boy’s name, “Arman! Arman!” A voice answered him
saying, “Dad, it’s me!” Then that little boy added priceless words that dad
will remember to the day he dies: “Dad, I told the other kids not to worry. I
told them if you were alive you would save me, and that when you saved me they
would be saved too. Because you promised Dad, ‘No matter what, son, I’ll always
be there for you.’” [Jack Canfield and Mark Hanson, Chicken Soup for
the Soul, (Deerfield Beach, Florida: Health Communications, 1993), pp.
273-274.] — Dear friends, how much more should we remember the promise of
Jesus! How much more should we rest in the presence of Jesus, and how much more
shall we rely on the power of Jesus knowing when He says we’ll cross over, we
will make it to the other side!
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
12) The never-ending fear-complex: So Aanko
Technologies sells high-end anthrax detectors we can mount next to our home
smoke alarms, carbon monoxide sensors, and radon detectors. So we build
Apocalypse Houses, the newest generation of bomb shelters about which
advertisements boast that “your house is designed to still be standing after
your neighbors’ homes are in rubble.” So we purchase an Aerial Egress HOPE
(High Office Parachute Escape) to stuff in to our desk drawer. So we stock up
on Nuke Pills, (potassium iodide pills), to boost our chances of surviving
radioactive fallout. So we peruse the fear-factor web sites of
ApprovedGasMasks.com, ProtectiveSuits.com, GammaScout.com, saferoom.com, in our
search for a portable safe-haven against a biological, chemical, or nuclear
attack. There’s a big difference between the kind of fear stalking US society
and bolstering the US economy, and the kind of sensible precautionary tone that
used to inform safety-conscious people. What school system doesn’t have a stockpile
of emergency supplies? Not gas masks and Geiger-counters, but cases of drinking
water, granola bars, peanut butter crackers, extra blankets, and first-aid kits
just in case something happens, and the school ends up keeping the kids for a
few days. Wear your seat belt or risk a fine if you’re pulled over.
Motorcyclists are required to wear helmets, and responsible parents insist
their bike-riding, skateboarding, rollerblading kids do the same. We’re facing
the truth that fallible, fragile, fractured human beings can never be
completely in control, completely secure, completely safe in this constantly
changing, unfolding, intersecting, spiraling universe. We’re not in charge.
You’re not in charge. I’m not in charge. — In today’s Gospel text, the disciples’
fear of a known danger, the winds and waves, causes them to chide a sleeping
Jesus for unconcern and inactivity. But Jesus’ demonstration of unknown Divine
power causes them to fear their salvation even more than the storm.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
13) “Hurricane party” in the face of a storm named Camille. In
1969, in Pass Christian, Mississippi, a group of people was preparing to have a
“hurricane party” in the face of a storm named Camille. Police
chief Jerry Peralta pulled up sometime after dark at the posh Richelieu
Apartments. Facing the beach less than 250 feet from the surf, the apartments
were directly in the line of danger. A man with a drink in his hand came
out to the second-floor balcony and waved at the police chief. Peralta yelled
up, “You all need to clear out of here as quickly as you can. The storm’s
getting worse.” But as other party participants joined the man on the balcony,
they just laughed at Peralta’s order to leave. “This is my land,” one of them
yelled back. “If you want me off, you’ll have to arrest me.” Peralta
didn’t arrest anyone, but he wasn’t able to persuade them to leave either. He
wrote down the names of the next of kin of the twenty or so people who gathered
there to party through the storm. They laughed as he took their names. They had
been warned, but they had no intention of leaving. It was 10:15 p.m. when
the front wall of the storm came ashore. Scientists clocked Camille’s wind
speed at more than 205 miles-per-hour, the strongest on record and much, much
stronger than Hurricane Katrina that would do so much destruction to the Gulf
Coast in 2005. Raindrops hit with the force of bullets, and waves off the Gulf
Coast crested between twenty-two and twenty-eight feet high. News reports
later showed that the worst damage came at the little settlement of motels,
go-go bars, and gambling houses known as Pass Christian, where some twenty
people were killed at a hurricane party in the Richelieu Apartments. Nothing
was left of that three-story structure but the foundation. Of the two-dozen
people in the building, only one survived. (1) — Storms come. Sometimes
they come suddenly and violently. Storms come. Just as they came to those
disciples on the Sea of Galilee. Here’s what’s frustrating: Sometimes
when storms come, it seems as if God is asleep. In our text for today,
Christ does stir from his slumber. He rebukes the wind and says to the waves,
“Quiet! Be still!” And they obey.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
14) “The hailstorm gave ultimate flavor and ultimate
crispness to these apples.” Robert A. Schuller tells about a farmer in
Washington state who was especially proud of the apples he produced every year,
and with good reason. His farm was at a high elevation, and the cold winds that
came through there made his apples especially crisp and flavorful. Every year,
after he harvested his crop, he would polish those apples until they virtually
shone. Then he would put them into beautiful packages to show them off. These
weren’t your ordinary run-of-the-mill apples but the kind that made beautiful
gifts to send loved ones for Thanksgiving and Christmas. As word of his
marvelous apples spread, it got to the point where he was inundated with orders
even before he had harvested the fruit. One year, just before harvest
time, a severe hailstorm pummeled his property. When it was all over, there
wasn’t a single apple without blemishes on its skin. There was nothing wrong
with the apples. They just didn’t look as pretty as they usually did, and the
farmer was afraid that the people who had ordered them might be disappointed
and ask for their money back. Then he had an idea. He took all of the
apples with the little blemishes on the outside and wrapped every one of them
the same way he did every year. He put them in the same kind of packages. Then
he added a note. It read: “Notice these high-quality apples. This year
represents the finest crop. You can see the blemishes caused by the hailstorm,
which created the extreme cold giving the ultimate flavor and ultimate
crispness to these apples.” Well, not a single order was returned. In
fact, just the opposite happened. The following year when his orders started
coming in he had many requests from people who wanted to make sure they got the
apples with the blemishes this year, too! [Dump Your Hang-ups (Grand
Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1993).] — That’s the way it works for people
of Faith. We don’t escape the blemishes. We wear them proudly, for we could not
be who we are today without the growth that those blemishes brought with
them. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
15) “Reach inside there and tell me what you feel.” Some
years ago the late, great Norman Vincent Peale visited Europe. In Belgium he
went to what used to be a Nazi prison camp, between Antwerp and Brussels. His
guide that day told him that he remembered the morning when the Nazis arrested
his own father. They brought him to this very camp and shot him. Dr. Peale
asked the guide, “How did those prisoners stand up against the awesome fear
that must have haunted this place day and night?” The guide replied, “They had
a secret.” The guide took Dr. Peale to a small cell far back in a corner where
there was just a little slit in a stone wall. “Now,” said the guide, “reach
inside there and tell me what you feel.” Dr. Peale reached inside and said, “I
feel a stone statue, the facial features of a statue.” The guide said, “What
you are feeling is the face of a statue of our Savior Jesus Christ. Those men
and women in the darkest hours of their hopelessness would come here and put
their hands on His holy and loving face. It was this that sustained them and
gave them victory over their fears.” — Victory over fear belongs to those who
through Faith can almost touch the face of Christ, those who trust in his
promise: “Lo, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
16) “He told me to come and get you!” Karen Fair
tells about her three-year-old daughter, Abby, who was having trouble sleeping
through the night. She kept waking up because she was afraid. Each time Karen
tucked her into bed again, she would remind her that Jesus was with her and
that He would keep her safe. The sleepless nights continued, with Abby seeking
comfort in her parents’ bedroom. Finally, one night Karen asked her daughter if
she had prayed for Jesus to take her fear away and help her fall asleep. “Oh
yes,” Abby assured her. “He told me to come and get you!” (1) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
17) “I have seen the face of the Captain, and he smiled
at me.” Robert Louis Stevenson delighted in the story of a ship tossed
in a storm. The sea was rough and the rocky coast perilous. Danger was real and
dread expectancy active among the seamen. One frantic sailor who was laboring
below the water line could contain himself no longer. He rushed to the control
room, closed the door behind himself, and stood frozen in fright watching the
captain wrestle with the controls of the huge ship. Skill of mind and strength
of hand enabled the captain to guide the vessel through the threatening rocks
into open water. The Captain turned slightly, looked at the frightened sailor,
and smiled. The youth returned below deck and assured the crew all danger was
over. When they inquired how he knew, he answered, “I have seen the face of the
Captain, and he smiled at me.” — If you will only, in the words of the
hymn, “turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, the things
of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” When you
know who is in control there is no fear. [Nelson L. Price, Farewell to
Fear (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1983), pg. 28.} Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
18) The Karate Kid: One of my favorite movies
is The Karate Kid. It is about a teenager who feels alone and
unprotected in the hostile environment of his school and community. He is
scared – unable to defend himself against the hoodlums of his
neighborhood. It happens that the lad, whose name is Daniel, meets an old
man, Mr. Meogi, who has a black belt in Karate. The old man agrees that
he will teach him what he knows so that Daniel can protect himself. On the
first day of his lessons the old man asks Daniel to wax and polish several old
cars that he owns – wax on – wax off. All day the lad labors to follow
these instructions – Wax on – Wax off. On the second day the old man asks the
boy to paint his fence — paint up – paint down. Again it takes all day.
On the third day the master asked him to sand the wooden floor of his verandah
– in a circular fashion – and again it takes all day. At the end of the third
day the boy is very angry – “I’ve done all this work for you,” he says, “and
you still haven’t taught me anything to defend myself.” At this point the
master tells Daniel to stand in front of him and do the motion for wax on – wax
off. As he does this, the master tries to hit him – but his blows are deflected
by the boy’s arms. The boy’s work for Mr. Meogi – his obedience – has made him
ready for his first lesson in how to face danger. It has prepared him for
the lessons, and the dangers, to follow. — In the course of our lives there are
many things that arise and frighten us. There are giants who are hostile to us
and all that we hold dear. There are storms that threaten to overwhelm us.
Today’s Gospel about Jesus’ calming the storm reminds us that a firm conviction
of the living presence of Jesus in our lives and a dynamic relationship with
him by prayer – listening to Him and talking to Him – will save us from the
unexpected storms of our lives. (Rev. Richard Fairchild).
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
19) The eagle and the storm: Do you know that an
eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks? The eagle will
fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it
sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm.
While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not
escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the
winds that bring the storm. — When the storms of life come upon us, and all of
us will experience them , we can rise above them by setting our minds and our
belief on God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God’s power
to lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring
sickness, tragedy, failure, and disappointment into our lives. We can soar
above the storm. We need to remember that it is not the burdens of life that
weigh us down, but how we handle them. The Bible says, “Those who hope
in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles” (Is
40:31). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
20) The storms of life and Forrest Gump: I
wonder if you have seen the film Forrest Gump. It’s a
wonderful film about a young man with learning difficulties who happens to be a
really profound and wise man. And Forrest Gump has some great catchphrases, the
most famous of which, of course is “Mama always used to say. ‘Life is like a
box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.’” And there is real
truth in that, isn’t there? Life is so unpredictable that we don’t know what
surprises lie in store for us from day to day, sometimes even from hour to
hour…Good things in life take us by surprise and we celebrate those moments.
But, sadly, negative and difficult times creep up on us and make an impact on
our lives when we least expect them. There are times in our lives when we feel
at the mercy of the storm, when we feel as if our lives are as chaotic as the
buffeting ocean. Perhaps there is a financial crisis, an illness, a
bereavement, or a breakdown of relationship. And we pray and pray and pray but
sometimes it as if Jesus is asleep. He doesn’t hear, no matter how loud we
shout…But we need to keep calling on the Lord in our most difficult times.
Because, in our persistence, we believe that the Lord does hear us and will
rebuke the storms, and the chaos of our lives will be stilled. The words of God
to us in Isaiah 43 are so beautiful. He promises: “Do not be afraid, for I
have redeemed you. I have called you by name; you are Mine. When you go through
deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you
will not drown.” Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
21) “I am an utter craven coward”: During World
War II, a military governor met with General George Patton in Sicily. When he
praised Patton highly for his courage and bravery, the general replied, “Sir, I
am not a brave man. . . The truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never
been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I
wasn’t so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands.” Years later, when
Patton’s autobiography was published, it contained this significant statement
by the general: “I learned very early in my life never to take counsel of my
fears.” — Today’s Gospel describes how the experienced fishermen disciples of
Jesus were paralyzed by their fear of the storm in the sea and called out to
Jesus for help. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
22) “I say my prayers when it’s calm”: There is
a story of about a captain who in his retirement skippered a boat taking day
trippers to Shetland Islands. On one trip the boat was full of young people.
They laughed at the old captain when they saw him saying a prayer before
sailing out, because the day was fine and the sea was calm. However they
weren’t long at sea when a storm suddenly blew up and the boat began to pitch
violently. The terrified passengers came to the captain and asked him to join
them in prayer. But he replied, “I say my prayers when it’s calm. When it’s
rough I attend to my ship.” — There is here a lesson for us. If we cannot and
will not seek God in quiet moments of our lives, we are not likely to find him
when trouble strikes. But if we learn to seek him in quiet moments, then most
certainly we will find him when the going gets rough. (Flor
McCarthy, in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
23) Storm that created the Amazing Grace: John
Newton was the son of an English sea captain. When John was ten his mother died
and he went to sea with his father. The boy learnt the sea backward and
forward. At 17 he rebelled against his father, left the ship, and began living
a wild life. Eventually John took a job on a cargo ship that carried slaves
from Africa to America. He was promoted rapidly and soon became captain of the
ship. Newton never worried whether slave trade was right or wrong. He just did it.
It was a way to make money. Then something happened that changed all that. One
night a violent storm blew up at sea. The waves grew to the size of mountains.
They picked up Newton’s ship and threw it around like a toy. Everyone on board
was filled with panic. Then Newton did something he hadn’t done since his
leaving his father’s ship. He prayed. Shouting at the top of his voice, he
said, “God, if only you save us, I promise to be your slave forever.” God heard
his prayer and the ship survived. When Newton reached land he kept his promise
and quit the slave trade. Later he studied for ministry and was ordained pastor
of a small church in Olney, England. There he won fame as a preacher and as a
composer of hymns. One of the most moving hymns that Newton wrote is the one in
which Newton praises God for the gift of conversion, Amazing Grace.
The words read: “Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound,/that saved a
wretch like me!/ I once was lost but now I am found / Was blind, but now I
see…” (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
24) Why Worry? When Bulstrode Whitelock was
about to embark as Cromwell’s envoy to Sweden in 1655, he was much disturbed in
mind as he rested in Harwich on the preceding night, which was very stormy,
while he reflected on the distracted state of the nation. It happened that a
confidential servant slept in an adjacent bed, who finding that his master
could not sleep said: “Pray, sir, will you give me leave to ask you a
question?” “Certainly”, replied Whitelock. “Pray, sir, don’t you think God
governed the world very well before you came into it?” “Undoubtedly!” “And
pray, sir, don’t you think he can take care of it while you are in it?” To this
question Whitelock had nothing to reply, but turning about, soon fell asleep.
(Anthony Castle in Quotes and Anecdotes; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
25) He is always with us and for us: A young Indian
boy approached manhood and, as the custom with his tribe, he had to undergo
several tests to prove his bravery, before acceptance into the fighting braves
of the tribe. He was brought out into the middle of a jungle and left there
alone all night. He was terrified. Every leaf that fell, every branch that
creaked, every movement in the underground caused his heart to pound. He never
knew a night could be so long. On several occasions, he would have run away,
but where does one run in a jungle in the middle of the night? After what
seemed an eternity, the light of dawn began to filter through the trees. In a
relatively short time his eyes got used to the growing light, and soon he was
able to see clearly. He moved from where he was and as he approached the
nearest tree he was amazed to find his father standing there with a gun. He had
stood there on guard all night long. The young lad’s instant response was to
think, “If I had known that my father was watching over me like that, I would
have slept soundly all night.” — When you die, you will discover that your
Father was standing guard there all the time. (Jack McArdle in And That’s the
Gospel Truth!). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
26) A Golden Labrador, came lumbering toward
us. Some years ago I was out walking with a friend when a large
dog, a Golden Labrador, came lumbering toward us. I had grown up with dogs and
thus could tell the difference between a dog moving aggressively and
one approaching benignly seeking merely to establish contact. But my
friend had not grown up with dogs and in fact had been bitten by one as a
youngster. Each of us looked at the dog approaching us. We saw the same scene
but reacted to it very differently. My friend was afraid, while I
was delighted. He reacted angrily and defensively. I put my hand out and
greeted the dog, patting it on the head and letting it smell my hand. With my
experience, I was able to bring peace to the situation. An agitated reaction
might well have provoked the dog to turn aggressive. — And so we see something
similar here in the boat. Jesus is able to sleep peacefully in the storm, but
the disciples are panicked. Jesus knows His Father; He also knows the end of
the story. Do you? Have you not read that for those who love and trust in the
Lord all things work together for good? (cf Rom 8:28) Why are we so afraid?
Storms will come and storms will go, but if we love God we will be saved, even
if we die to this world. If you have this peace, you too will calm storms.
Peaceful people have an effect on others around them. We cannot give what we do
not have. Ask the Lord for a heart that is at peace, not just for your own sake
but for that of others. Because He is at peace, Jesus can rebuke the storm. How
about you? (Msgr. Clarke Pope).
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
