Rembrandt 1633
Sunday, June 23
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Roman Ordinary calendar
Book of Job 38,1.8-11.
The LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said :
And who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb;
When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
When I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door,
And said: Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!
Psalms 107(106),23-24.25-26.28-29.30-31.
Some went off to sea in ships, plied their trade on the deep waters.
They saw the works of the LORD, the wonders of God in the deep.
He spoke and roused a storm wind; it tossed the waves on high.
They rose up to the heavens, sank to the depths; their hearts trembled at the danger.
In their distress they cried to the LORD, who brought them out of their peril,
Hushed the storm to a murmur; the waves of the sea were stilled.
They rejoiced that the sea grew calm, that God brought them to the harbor they longed for.
Let them thank the LORD for such kindness, such wondrous deeds for mere mortals.
Second Letter to the Corinthians 5,14-17.
Brothers and sisters: The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died.
He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer.
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 4,35-41.
On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm.
Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
Saint Augustine (354-430)
Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Exposition on Psalm 25, no. 2
A violent squall came up
We, too, are rowing across a lake that lacks neither wind nor storm: the daily temptations of this world are almost swamping our boat. Why should this be except because Jesus is sleeping? If Jesus were not asleep in you, you would not be undergoing these squalls but would be enjoying great interior peace because Jesus would keep watch with you.
What does it mean: Jesus sleeps? It means that your faith in Jesus is asleep. The lake’s tempests arise: you witness the wicked prospering and the virtuous suffering; this is a temptation, a buffeting by the waves. And you say to your soul: “O God, is this your justice? That the wicked should prosper and the virtuous be abandoned to suffering?” Yes, you say to God: “Is this your justice?” And God answers you: “And is this your faith? What in fact did I promise you? Did you become a christian so as to be a success in this world? Are you distressed by the lot of the wicked here below when all the time you are ignorant of their lot in the future world?”
How is it that you talk like this and are tossed by the waves on the lake and by the storm? It is because Jesus is asleep – I mean, that your faith in Jesus is asleep in your heart. What are you to do to be rescued? Waken Jesus and say to him: “Lord, we are lost!”. The insecurities of our crossing over the lake trouble us; we are lost. But he will awake, that is to say, your faith will return to you and, with Jesus’ help, you will think over it in your heart and note that the good things that are granted to the wicked today are not going to last. Those good things escape them during their lifetime or they will have to leave them behind at the moment of death. But where you are concerned it is the opposite: what is promised you will remain for eternity… So turn away from what falls apart and set your face towards what lasts. When Christ awakes, the storm will no longer buffet your heart nor the waves submerge your boat because your faith will command the winds and the waves and this peril will pass away.
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
You must be logged in to post a comment.