{"id":520,"date":"2009-06-20T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-20T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/06\/homily-for-june-21-2009-12th-sunday-in-ordinary-time.html"},"modified":"2009-06-20T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-20T10:00:00","slug":"homily-for-june-21-2009-12th-sunday-in-ordinary-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/06\/homily-for-june-21-2009-12th-sunday-in-ordinary-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Homily for June 21, 2009: 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>When I was working at CBS News, believe it or not, the moment we just heard about in the gospels was a part of my daily life. In the offices of \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d the executive producer Jeff Fager had hanging on his wall a print of a famous painting by Rembrandt, depicting this very scene. <\/p>\n

A small boat is being tossed in a sea of surging waves. The disciples are panicked, screaming in fear. One of them is leaning over the side, throwing up. <\/p>\n

And Jesus is sound asleep in the back. <\/p>\n

Jeff told me he keeps the picture on his wall as a reminder. \u201cThat\u2019s television,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s never smooth — and you have to stay calm while everyone else is screaming and throwing up.\u201d <\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s television, all right. But that\u2019s also life. It\u2019s never smooth sailing. We are always facing squalls and surges, winds and rain. Sometimes, it seems we are on the verge of sinking. And, of course, part of the point behind today\u2019s scripture readings is the importance \u2013 the necessity — of trusting in God. <\/p>\n

Whether we realize it or not, He is as much a part of the storm as the wind and the waves. <\/p>\n

In the first reading, God addresses Job \u201cout of the storm\u201d \u2013 not from out of the sky, or some place apart, but from \u201cout of the storm.\u201d He is in it. And he reassures Job that He, God, is in control. \u201cHere shall your proud waves be stilled.\u201d <\/p>\n

And then, in Mark\u2019s gospel, Jesus stills \u201cthe proud waves\u201d by being in the middle of them. <\/p>\n

You\u2019ll remember that he is asleep in the stern of the boat \u2013that\u2019s the back, where someone steering the vessel would sit. The disciples wake him up. And with just a word, he calms the storm \u2013 and then scolds them. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?\u201d <\/p>\n

In the early days of the church, when Mark was writing, that was a good question. Christians were being rounded up, imprisoned, executed. The barque of Peter — their little boat — was constantly in danger of going under. Jesus\u2019 words in the midst of the storm must have given persecuted Christians reason to hold on. God was with them. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?\u201d <\/p>\n

We could ask ourselves the same question today, when we face the squalls in our own lives. <\/p>\n

Of course, that\u2019s often when we turn to God \u2013 when we\u2019re most desperate. <\/p>\n

Sometimes we wonder if He really hears us. <\/p>\n

On November 10, 1975, a massive cargo ship was crossing Lake Superior in Michigan, when it hit a violent storm, and sank, with 29 men on board. A few years after it happened, the event was immortalized in the ballad: \u201cThe Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the middle of the song, there is a haunting lyric that asks: <\/p>\n

\u201cDoes anyone know
where the love of God goes\u2026
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?\u201d<\/span> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When the disciples were on the Sea of Galilee, they must have wondered where \u2013 for the love of God \u2013 was<\/span> the love of God. <\/p>\n

But the answer is: the love of God doesn\u2019t go. The gospel today reminds us: He is with us. Waiting for us to call on Him\u2026to turn to him. In the middle of the storm, we are not alone. <\/p>\n

Last summer, I left CBS, and \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d and that Rembrandt painting on the wall. And I became the News Director for NET, the prayer channel for the Brooklyn Diocese. At the time I joined the station, they were just starting to build a new studio off Prospect Park. This Thursday, it will be officially dedicated as the Msgr. Michael Dempsey Studio. Part of the studio includes a tiny chapel, an oratory for praying, with a tabernacle to contain the blessed sacrament. The building is very small, and for months architects and engineers were saying to the general manager, Chris Quinn, \u201cYou have to get rid of the chapel. We need more office space. We need room for equipment, for computers, for editing equipment.\u201d But this was one area where Chris refused to compromise. <\/p>\n

No, he said. We need this. And he put it so simply, but so beautifully: if we stay close to Him, He\u2019ll stay close to us. <\/p>\n

He\u2019d absorbed a lesson that the disciples had a hard time learning. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?\u201d
<\/span>
Have faith. That is the point I want to leave you with today. Have faith. In every season, in every kind of weather. When the water is surging, when the wind is howling, when it seems we are about to be thrown into the water\u2026remember what happened on the Sea of Galilee. <\/p>\n

Whatever happens, we will not be abandoned. <\/p>\n

We will not be abandoned when our lives seem lost, when friendship is scarce, when we feel unloved or unlovable. When it seems we will sink. When it seems the storm has become too much to bear. <\/p>\n

Hold fast. Have faith. <\/p>\n

Because the God who created the storm is the same God who gave everything for us on the cross\u2026and who remains with us, in the Eucharist we are about to receive. We should remind ourselves every day of God\u2019s tender mercies, of His Real Presence\u2026and his continued presence\u2026in every storm\u2026 and in every sunrise the morning after. <\/p>\n

Remember what he has done. Remember what he can do. <\/p>\n

Have faith. <\/span><\/p>\n

Because ultimately, we are all in the same boat. <\/p>\n

And our great comfort and great hope\u2026is that God is in here with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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In the offices of \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d the executive producer Jeff Fager had hanging on his wall a print of a famous painting by Rembrandt, depicting this very scene.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies"],"yoast_head":"\nHomily for June 21, 2009: 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/06\/homily-for-june-21-2009-12th-sunday-in-ordinary-time.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homily for June 21, 2009: 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I was working at CBS News, believe it or not, the moment we just heard about in the gospels was a part of my daily life. 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