21 November-Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations for Every Day

21st November

The Storms of Life

1. The Evangelists describe how Jesus got into a boat one day along with His Apostles and set out across the lake of Genesareth. Suddenly a great storm arose, so furious that the waves covered the tiny vessel and threatened to submerge it. The Apostles were terrified and turned to Jesus, but He was asleep. They woke Him, crying out: “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” He sat up and said to them: “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He rebuked the wind and the sea, and immediately all was calm again. His followers were astonished. “What manner of man is this,” they asked one another, “that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mt. 8:23-26; Mk. 4:36-40; Luke 8:22-25)

We also are often subjected to the tempests of life. Sometimes these storms are purely interior, as when our lower impulses threaten to overcome our good resolutions and to submerge our purity of soul. In these serious crises we should turn humbly and fervently to Jesus for help. Sometimes, perhaps, Jesus will seem to be asleep and deaf to our anguished entreaties. But it is never so. He simply wishes to test us, as He tested His Apostles on the lake of Genesareth.

We must persevere. We must tell Him that we do not wish to lose His grace, that we do not wish to fall into sin, but desire to go on loving Him. If our prayers are humble and insistent, we may rest assured that after our moment of trial Jesus Christ will speak to us. At the sound of His voice the tempest will be stilled and there will come a great calm. Then we shall experience the peace which only God can give.

2. At other times, however, the tempest will come from outside ourselves and will have a shattering effect on our spiritual life. It may be some insult which has seriously wounded us. There may be somebody near to us who has grown quite insufferable. Or perhaps suffering will come to us in the guise of illness, disgrace, or loss of our dear ones. We shall feel lonely and abandoned in the midst of the storm. To whom shall we have recourse in our hour of need? Shall we turn to our fellow-men? Perhaps there will be nobody able to understand us perfectly, or if there is somebody who sympathises with us he may be able to do nothing for us save to utter a few kind words.

3. Let us turn, therefore, to Jesus on the Cross, and to Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist.

The Crucifix will teach us how to suffer with resignation and with love. We shall look upon the Son of God made man in order to take on Himself our sins, to expiate them and to wash them away by His Precious Blood. Before this mystery of infinite love all our anguish and unrest will give way to a Christian acceptance of suffering.

If this is not enough, let us turn to Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist. Let us invite Him into our hearts to calm the tempest and to give us His divine grace, which will conquer every temptation and heal every wound.