This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
12th Sunday of Ordinary YearSleeping Christ or Crying out Peter!Job 38:1, 8-11; II Cor 5:14-17; Mk 4:35-41Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, we shall thank God for all our dads and grand-dads as we celebrate Father’s Day. Eucharist is the celebration of the family; it is the gathering of many families. It is the Eucharistic altar and sharing of Christ Body that keeps us united and leads us to live our life joyfully in the midst of anxieties, expectations, differences and worldly influences. We pray that our fathers may renew their responsibility in leading the children and family in the path of peace and faith. We shall also lift up all the children who struggle without the caring and guiding love of a father, and that the prayer, Our Father, may bring the protecting hand of God the Father into their midst.How do you see your dad? These are the answers we received: My dad is a coach for me…my dad is a guide for me…my dad is a teacher for me…my dad is a threat for me…my dad is a controller…my dad is a friend. One son asked, “dad how old are you dad?” His dad responded, “I am as old as you are.” The son, in confusion, asked again, “How is it possible?” His dad said, “Yes, I am as old as you are because I became a father only when you were born!” Yes, to be a daddy is a privilege and blessing. What do you do when you are scared in darkness? The child said, “I hold the hand of my dad.” “Why are you not scared then?” The child said, “no, my dad is bigger than the darkness that caused fear; my big dad gives peace. Yes dear friends, this is the message, the readings offer to us, that our God is the Father who is all powerful and mighty. He is bigger than any storm, struggle, stress and suffering. The question is whether we cry out like the Apostles during those stormy experiences, or seek Jesus’ power of calmness and peace. Mark, the Evangelist, was writing his Gospel during the Roman persecution. The Christian community was growing at the same time; people were being victimized for political pride. Many sacrificed their lives for Christ. But the growing persecutions were real, stormy and dangerous situations where people started doubting their baptism, community and faith. Mark offers this event of Jesus calming the sea to this community, when even the great men, Paul and Peter, must have faced persecution. Mark motivates them to rise above the opposition. The synoptic Gospels mention this passage; it shows how powerful this experience must have been to the community. People must have been passing on this event orally about how powerful the hand of God is and how peaceful the presence of our Risen Jesus is! The Sea of Galilee is a lake, more than six hundred feet below sea level. It is thirteen miles long from north to south, and eight miles broad from east to west, at it’s widest. It is notorious for its sudden windstorms. On the west side there are hills with valleys and gullies, and rivers have cut deep ravines through the tablelands down into the sea. The cold wind passing through tunnel valleys add to the severe threatening stormy weather. Fishermen who knew the life of the sea were terrified, horrified and lost their hope while crying out that they were perishing! We too identify with these fragile and unsteady Apostles as we shout and cry out, saying: I am perishing in my debt, I am perishing with my sickness, I am perishing in my work stress and I am perishing in my failures. We draw a hopeless conclusion that this is the end of my tunnel, so I am done, and have perished here. The Apostles may blame that Jesus is sleeping; yet, we see here peace and serenity in the sleeping Jesus. He reveals how powerful His peace and stillness is by calming the sea. The Apostles failed to realize how big Jesus and His power is in the midst of wild wind and destructive storm. Mark assured the First Century believers that nothing can harm the Church as long as the risen Lord is with them. He describes how, by a single commanding word, Jesus stilled a storm on the Sea of Galilee, returned the sea to its natural order and saved His followers from drowning. The incident reminds us to keep Jesus in our life’s boat and to seek his help in the storms of life. The reflection of the Church Fathers is seeing the Church as a boat that rose above so many persecutions, violence, threats, oppositions and scandals. We have Job, from the first reading, who remains in the history of humanity, a great lesson for all to face, to withstand and go beyond turmoil and any form of suffering. God told Job that He is the Creator and Lord of the sea and the waters, and only He can control the wind and the sea and the other elements. "I set limits for the sea and fastened the bar of its door.” The Book of Job, taken in its totality, teaches the lesson that God has plans and purposes which mortal men cannot grasp. We all experience different types of violent storms in our lives: physical storms, emotional storms, and spiritual storms. We face storms of sorrow, doubt, anxiety, worry, temptation and passion. How can we be like the sleeping Jesus, at peace in the midst of heavy wind and storms? Job was at peace eventually, in the midst of losing everything, because He saw Yahweh as a Big Father, and saw his pain and difficulties as tiny. The Apostles saw the giant storm as huge but with nothing in front of their faith, thus they cried out, ‘we are perishing.’ Jesus knew the Big Father in and with Him, so he was at peace among the wind and the storm. Superman is not huge and Batman is not big …..Your dad is big enough to provide peace in any circumstance; Jesus is huge, powerful and mighty before any evil. Therefore we shall make space for Jesus in our boat so that we all embrace and witness to that peace and serenity. Fr. Pedro Arupe SJ, was the general of their order, He kept the picture of Earth as seen from the moon which Neil Armstrong gave him. People admired his gentle and peaceful approach. Once someone asked him, “Father, as a general of the big Society of Jesus, you may have so many decisions to make, the difficulties of situations and people; in the midst of such storms how you can be at peace?” Pedro said, “it is true I face various moments of stress and struggle as a general, but in those moments, I look at this picture, where the earth is so tiny compared to the moon; my problem is in one corner so tiny, so I am able to be at peace, just as Jesus of peace is in my boat-Amen. 
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