By Fr Atony Christy SDB –
June 20, 2021: 12th Sunday in Ordinary time
Job 38: 1, 8-11; 2 Corinthians 5: 14-17; Mark 4: 35-41
Be Still… and you will know what a mighty God you have!
But is this so easy to do in times such as these…when all we hear is about sickness, contagion, disease, death, ICU, emergency, lockdown, second wave and third wave, virus, variant and vaccination! It seems so difficult to think of God in terms of God’s benevolence and might.
Even otherwise, we are so fond of lamenting, fretting, complaining, grumbling, panting and gasping, that we fail to notice the mighty presence of God right beside us as we struggle in the daily storms of life. It takes that moment when the Lord finally intervenes and says: Quiet! Be Still…I am here, right here, in the midst of it all. Don’t you see? Don’t you believe? Haven’t you experienced my interventions in the past? Haven’t you learnt that lesson yet?
It is one of our regular unfortunate experiences – that we do a series of good, a long list of acts of love and compassion, and every duty of ours to perfection until one mistake, or one misunderstanding, or one misfired act… people react as if we have always been that way! We begin to wonder, all the good and the perfect things that I did so far, do they count at all? At times, we put God through that kind of an experience too! When things go wrong, when things are out of control, it is important to ‘Be still, and know that the Lord is!’
Behold! a New Thing… the mighty God is creating it for you!
At times the turbulence that you go through may be a new thing in the making! You know how the east coast of Chennai was affected due to Tsunami. Yes, that was a big tragedy. But once going for some work to a place near the East Coast, the person who was with me commented looking at a mighty building there: if it were not for the Tsunami, we would not have this building here! Though it may sound less sensitive to the disaster and its effects, the statement triggered an insight in me. At times the turbulences that we experience in life, may lead to newer and fresher outlooks on events.
Loss of job, crisis in a work place, calamities that affect daily life, transfers, change of leaderships…these at times may look like big hurdles. But as times goes by and when we overcome these situations for good and experience a new lease of life, we would realise how through what was once thought of as a problem, we have had pleasant surprises, experiences of growth and an opportunity to live life more intensely. But if we do not reflect we would miss it all. When Socrates said it – an unreflected life is a wasted life – he did have a great sense, particularly in the spiritual sense. It is our responsibility to behold the new things that the Lord deigns to make for us. It is easy to miss them all.
Be Urged by the Love of Christ… the mightiest experience of God!
In every thing and at every moment, be urged by the love of Christ; a love that so powerfully brings the presence of God into our life. Allow God into your life, feel the presence of God and enjoy the love that God continues to shower on you – a love so immense and unconditional. If only we taste that love of God, we would become so filled with that love that we will overflow with that love. Our words, our thoughts, our gestures, our relations, our interactions and everything in us will be flooded with that love and people around us will experience it. That love will urge me to be loving; that love will push me to reach out to the other in love; that love will not allow me to remain quiet about the goodness that I have experienced; that love will make goodness so contagious and of course everything around me will be created anew!
Yes… can we stand up and accept the challenge: The Love of Christ urges us, to be still and recognise the presence of God, to behold everything new that the Lord is creating for us and to be urged by the love of Christ, to share the same loving presence of God with everyone in need! If only we realise, what a mighty God we have!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.