And behold, there was a great storm at sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves.

 

And behold, there was a great storm at sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves." The sea can be interpreted as being the world, evil and death. It is the reality of those who are submerged in the rubble of an existence without truth, without love and without hope. It is the world of those who have not yet chosen God, who have not discovered the beauty and importance of belonging to the Lord, of being able to call Him Father. In this world, selfishness rules, individualism, superstition, the superficial, the illusion of having and pleasure at any cost, the desire to possess everything and others alike, self-idolatry, anxiety, the logic of domination, war, hunger , pestilence and death. It is the world of inhumane competition, of the exploitation of others in every way, of make-believe, of unconscious terrors, coming to the surface in the middle of this world there is a boat, apparently lost, alone, at sea. at the mercy of the storms, being tossed on all sides. This boat is the Church of Jesus Christ, which must be the legitimate instrument of truth, love and hope, of life and human dignity for the world. It has another type of logic, another way of facing planetary reality, another way of acting with human beings; it has a horizon, it has a direction and it offers security that the world does not have. The way of the Church is that of its Head; its logic is that of Christ; its purpose is eternal communion with God; his mode of action is based on love and truth; Her greatest joy is to serve in the likeness of her Husband. The logic of the Church challenges the world.

"Jesus, however, slept." The wooden pillow and the tomb can simultaneously indicate the cross and the death of Jesus. While Jesus was on the cross and in the tomb, his disciples had no peace, their restless minds and no perception of the future tormented them. What a difficult time! Everything seemed destroyed. Who could really save them? Only the Resurrected. It means, then, that God often seems to let man walk alone, so that he realizes his limitations and needs, knows himself and the importance of God in his life. Well, it's not that the Lord really moves away, since everything is sustained by Him. Nothing can continue to exist if God moves away. Jesus' sleep allows His disciples the great opportunity to trust more and more in their Lord, to see that they cannot steer the boat with their own strength, that their journey in the world requires divine grace, God's protection, His saving presence. The boat cannot be driven according to the dictates of human reason, but according to the logic of God. As long as man trusts in himself he will never achieve God's plan for him. This is the Church, which cannot continue in history, in the middle of the world, facing evil and death, through the "brilliant" minds of men and women swollen with pride and contaminated with the way of thinking of a reason without God . Sleeping while the boat is rocked can also mean a lesson for the entire Church that, despite the hardships and challenges of every day, it needs to remain standing, confident in the Word of God and completely focused on its Head; she must not despair in the face of persecution, because in her is peace (Jesus sleeps, he is at peace), there is life, there is He who has power over all things, who can walk on the waters, multiply the loaves, resurrect the dead, etc.

"Lord, save us, for we are perishing!" Peter was walking on the water when he was afraid and began to sink. At the most critical moment of his life, when he touched his extreme limitations, he gave the cry of the most important need: "Lord, save me." This is the cry of the Church which, despite being Holy as a work of God and belonging to Him, is fragile in each of its members. Furthermore, the ferocity of Satan and the godless man is very incisive against the community of God's children. The world acts, without fear, without judgment, in the most bizarre way possible against the Church, seeking, in any way, to demoralize it or even destroy it. Both externally and internally the world has confronted the children of God within their own home. The Church is defamed, betrayed by many within itself, treated as if it were a disgrace and an agent of dehumanization. The world calls truth what is a lie and a lie what is truth. Jesus is the Truth, but the world insists on contradicting his teachings, falsifying them and teaching them according to their illusions. Although, on the other hand, many also use, within their religious inventions, the name of Jesus to achieve what Jesus himself condemns, such as the unbridled search for money. Greed in the name of Jesus is the fashion of cults, which are a total distortion of the Gospel. The world, in its distorted pagan and religious reality, throws everything that characterizes it against the Church, so that it is loved, and the Church forgotten.