Homily - Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Mass “in time of pandemic” (Mk 4:35-31)

“Oh, Lord! Come and protect us from the storm! Come and give us peace!”

Is there a storm inside of yourself? Is it a storm of inner fears and uncertainties related to this pandemic?

When the apostles were in their boat with Jesus in the midst of a storm, a storm that surrounded them, there was also another storm that was inside of them! It was a terrifying storm of their fears.

And what was Jesus doing in this time? Jesus slept soundly. One can see here an expression of who Jesus really is. Even while the storm raged all around him, his soul remained at perfect inner peace and gives witness to an immeasurable peace. The external storm troubling the boats notwithstanding, Jesus remains calm. When he rises, he first calls the apostles to have faith, and then he commands the storm to stop and the exterior calm is restored.

His action was meant to help the apostles find their faith: the external calming of the storm revealed his power to calm their inner storms - the storms in our hearts, in our souls, and in our minds. The storms of restlessness that we now know so well.

Jesus Christ has the power to calm us in our innermost being, to calm us in the depths of our souls. He calms us interiorly in every storm exterior to ourselves: Today, this is the pandemic, and the many questions that it brings: We want to know how long it will last, how we will get out of it, when the scientists will find a solution, when will there be a vaccine or another way to protect us from COVID-19, not to mention the question of the dead and the suffering with which we must live.

We can also think of the economic storm that affects even the financial markets, the storm of humanity and the storm of families that touches us personally, and the storm of our entire way of life being upset by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In all of these storms that affect us deeply, Jesus tells us again that he has the power to calm us interiorly and to give us peace. Nothing can stop Jesus Christ from giving us peace, just as his death on the cross could not stop the resurrection. Nothing can stop him from giving us peace.

In all of these storms that affect us deeply, Jesus tells us again that he has the power to calm us interiorly and to give us peace. Nothing can stop Jesus Christ from giving us peace.

In this time of a storm caused by the pandemic, in this time of fears all around us and deep within us, let us turn to Jesus Christ.

Let us take time for truthful contemplation of our fears and say: “Lord! Lord! See how we are afraid! We are anxious, we are in a storm! Come and protect us from the storm! Come and give us peace!”