Fourth Sunday after Epiphany (Traditional Latin Mass)
/Fourth Sunday after Epiphany (Mass of the 1962 Missal)
Rom. 13:8-10; Mt. 8:23-27
29 January 2023
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST. AMEN.
The setting of this Gospel selection is the Sea, also called the Lake, of Galilee. It had – and still has – a reputation for being dangerous due to sudden storms that can arise. Fishermen knew these dangers well and they became seasoned to the temperamental nature of the Sea of Galilee. The Gospel text clearly describes the storm in strong and dramatic terms. Perhaps to put an exclamation point on the danger so that we don’t diminish the severe nature of this storm, we should note that, the disciples, experienced fishermen who knew the sea well, were clearly terrified thinking this storm might be their last and they would not make it to shore. In fact, this tempest was more than just a violent storm. The Greek words limjohnson@saintannechurchnh.orgterally refer to a great shaking of the sea, something like an earthquake. This conjures up the image of something like a tsunami. Thus, St. Matthew describes the situation as the ship being “covered with waves.” The ship is being swamped, taking on water badly, and the men on board, experienced as they were with the Sea of Galilee, think they are likely going to die. Thus, they cry out: Lord, save us, we perish! The disciples are being put to the test so that they learn not to surrender to their fears.
But the threat here may well have been more than severe weather. That possibility comes as a hint in the response from our Blessed Lord who, the text says, “commanded the winds and the sea.” The Greek for “commanded” is the word for “rebuked” which is used in other places where our Lord commands by rebuking evil spirits in exorcisms. This could be a clue that demons are behind the manifestation in nature of the earthquake and sudden storm causing a great commotion on the sea. In fact, the Church has exorcistic prayers used when there is threat of severe storms, to pray that forces lurking behind terrible threats of nature may be calmed. Decades ago, after a particularly bad hurricane season, a past archbishop of the Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama, ordered that after all Masses the Divine Praises be recited asking for God’s protection from storms. It’s a practice they still do today. The Church, the Barque of St. Peter, still today prays against threatening storms as she makes her way through the troubled waters of the kingdom of man. In traveling through so many storms in history and in the present day, the Church manifests or shows – in fact, she carries – the divinity of Christ to the world.
We know that the Church has faced and still faces violent storms as she makes her way through history. We don’t always see through the veil and we can’t always clearly identify spiritual realities in this valley of tears. But we can assume that in some cases the forces lurking behind troubles that come from outside and within the Church may well be the evil manipulation of demons. In today’s Gospel selection we may have the hint that demons were behind the storm. But we can also suggest that demons may also have been behind the manipulation of the disciples’ fears as they despaired while the Lord slept in the boat.
The ship of the Church continues her voyage giving witness to the Lord who is God among us. We are not disciples literally in a boat but we might as well be, because we are rocked about and overcome with the waves of godless secularism and leftist ideology that seeks to corrupt and refashion everything God has revealed in nature and in the revelation given to the Church. We are tossed about by the tsunami of being lied to daily by cultural elites and their mouthpieces in the mainstream media as they seek to advance a globalist agenda. And the demonic forces that seek to pry our faith from us can be seen in the waves that swamp us even from within the Church. So many have surrendered the authentic faith in favor of having their ears tickled by false doctrine. Perversion, sin, and crime among our shepherds have left trust destroyed. We have whole generations who know almost nothing about the faith but who can spout every relativistic antiphon that undercuts moral absolutes and the fact that the Lord established one true Church for our salvation. We have Synods that are little more than manipulative committees with pre-determined outcomes, and bishops and popes who say confusing and foolish things. Come to think of it, maybe this is the Sea of Galilee!
And the Lord seems to be asleep through it all. And we cry out: Don’t you care? Save us for we perish! My brothers and sisters, our faith is being tested mightily. Will we be like those who do not trust in God, surrendering to our fears, and so hear the indictment of our Lord: Why are you fearful, oh you of little faith? Even in this storm-tossed existence, the Church carries the Lord and manifests his divinity in this world. Demons want to attack. And sadly, both outside and inside the Church there are those who cooperate with and fall prey to demonic manipulations. The Deposit of Faith is our sure rudder and anchor in our times. We should call upon the Lord in daily prayer by which we pour out our troubled hearts to him. Reading the Word of God and coming before him in Adoration should be standards for this rocky journey. The daily Rosary should be a natural reflex for us. How poor we would be if we left Our Lady and her rosary to dangle only from our rearview mirrors! Frequent confession is a must so that we are washed of the sins that will only lead us to despair. And worthy reception of the Lord’s gift of self in Holy Communion increases our faith in our storm-tossed times. In time we will marvel at the great calm that the Lord commands because he has authority over all things. Lord, we beg of you: see the wind and the seas in our time and rebuke them so that we may marvel as did your disciples: What manner of man is this, for the winds and the sea obey Him?
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST. AMEN.