Bible Reflection: Storms of Faith

Date: August 3, 2016

Matt 15:21–28: “Lord help me.”

Matt 14:22–36: “Command me to come to you on water.”

Jesus permits each of us to “precede Him” and enter a storm of faith, a storm that brings our fears to the surface and challenges us to trust and abandon ourselves to Christ in a new way. During the storm, Jesus comes to the disciples walking on water, but they do not recognize Him. They think He is a ghost.

I pondered before my Lord: “In what ways does Jesus come to me in which I do not recognize Him?” Jesus answered me with these words:

—You fail to recognize Me in their brokenness. His brokenness is upon My Body. His brokenness is part of Me; I have taken it upon Myself in order to suffer with him and for him.

—I understood: I fail to recognize my Lord in the disorders, sins, and brokenness of those closest to me.

The Holy Spirit moves the heart of Peter with zeal to desire to come to Jesus. To reach Him, he first must get out of the boat—the place of security, his confines, his control, his established barriers. Then he must be willing to trust to do what seems impossible—walk on water—to reach Jesus. His initial zeal for the Lord moves him out of the boat, but then when he takes his eyes off Jesus and experiences upon his body the strength of the winds, he doubts and sinks.

The storms of faith are a grace of God that moves us out of the confines of our comfort zones and the pit of our wounds. Little by little, He moves us to “let go” to complete trust and abandonment, SO THAT through His omnipotence and power, we can do the IMPOSSIBLE in our lives according to His Holy Will.

Fear and doubt, because they are a reaction to a lack of trust and abandonment, act as a barrier that keeps us from becoming one with Jesus, and through Him, with Him, and in Him, allowing God to do the impossible: His mighty works and miracles. Therefore, our lifetime journey through the narrow path of the Cross is to come to know our fears and doubts, and through the help of the Holy Spirit, “Lord help me,” receive the graces to move through every fear.

To reach union with Christ will require moving out of our safety zones and taking many risks to do what is most difficult for us, what is scariest, what seems impossible, like walking on water.

The Lord reveals to me that He is present daily in every person in my life. He is disguised in their brokenness as Jesus crucified—the Jesus hardly recognizable to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. I need to move out of my safety zone to do what is most difficult: to love with patience, kindness, not irritable, and embrace what feels repulsive to me. I need to see Jesus’ gaze in each of them to move out of my self-love to embrace my broken Jesus. The moment my gaze moves away from my crucified Lord, I sink into myself—into the ocean of my own darkness.

I continued my pondering: What seems to be the ugliest trait in others that bothers and repulses me the most? Self-centered people that are caught up in themselves, their own problems, miseries, pains… And we all seem to admire selfless people—giving of themselves constantly, attentive with detail to others, often in such hidden ordinary ways. I had to think of my sister, Elena. This is why the Lord has said to me:

—It is through My crucified gaze that you will desire to be One with The Victim of Love, in which you will desire solely the Cross, in which you will desire the salvation of all your brothers and sisters and forget yourself, in which you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit to lay down your life as My sacrifice of love for the salvation of many.

LUKE 6:12–19

What happened to the multitudes following Jesus (Luke 6:12–19)? Why weren’t they with Him in Calvary? Their reasons for following Jesus were still self-centered (See: Path, Bridging the Gap). They sought good things such as healing, deliverance, and touching Jesus. They also followed out of curiosity. But they had not reached the level of the FUSION OF LOVE, where one follows SOLELY the Other for love of Him. A love that desires to walk the narrow path of the Cross with Jesus solely to accompany Him so that He is not alone—To participate in His discomforts, humiliations, violence, anger, rage, darkness, pain, exhaustion, violent sorrows, abuse, betrayal, abandonment, mockery, murmuring, His thirst, hunger…

The Lord permitted the storm I recently entered to enflame in my heart the fire of the Spirit to desire SOLELY THE CROSS. He calls me to be His companion at Calvary, to remain with Him, to kiss and console Him SOLELY for love of Him. He enflamed my heart with the words of St Paul: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal 6:14)

Today I continued this pondering through the words of St Paul: “I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Cor 9:27) I have lived these past years with this understanding in my heart that I can teach the Path, but not necessarily become the Path. One can preach the Gospel and not become one with the Gospel. As a mother, how easy it can be to preach to my children all the right things, but what makes an impact in their lives is if they see me living the Gospel in my daily, ordinary life. These precious storms and sufferings of life need to bring me to see this discrepancy in my life until there is no longer duplicity, masks, or a false identity but ONENESS WITH GOD!

References

Message #23 in The Simple Path

1 Cor 9:27But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.

Gal 6:14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.

Luke 6:12–19And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and he passed the whole night in the prayer of God. And when day was come, he called unto him his disciples; and he chose twelve of them (whom also he named apostles). Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon who is called Zelotes, And Jude, the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the traitor. And coming down with them, he stood in a plain place, and the company of his disciples, and a very great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast both of Tyre and Sidon, Who were come to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were troubled with unclean spirits, were cured. And all the multitude sought to touch him, for virtue went out from him, and healed all.

Matt 14:22–36And forthwith Jesus obliged his disciples to go up into the boat, and to go before him over the water, till he dismissed the people. And having dismissed the multitude, he went into a mountain alone to pray. And when it was evening, he was there alone. But the boat in the midst of the sea was tossed with the waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking upon the sea. And they seeing him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying: It is an apparition. And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying: Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not. And Peter making answer, said: Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters. And he said: Come. And Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid: and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying: Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretching forth his hand took hold of him, and said to him: O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt? And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased. And they that were in the boat came and adored him, saying: Indeed thou art the Son of God. And having passed the water, they came into the country of Genesar. And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent into all that country, and brought to him all that were diseased. And they besought him that they might touch but the hem of his garment. And as many as touched, were made whole.

Matt 15:21–28And Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him: Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is grieviously troubled by the devil. Who answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying: Send her away, for she crieth after us: And he answering, said: I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel. But she came and adored him, saying: Lord, help me. Who answering, said: It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs. But she said: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. Then Jesus answering, said to her: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her daughter was cured from that hour.

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