Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?

SATURDAY 1 FEBRUARY (Mk 4,35-41)

The Letter to the Hebrews reveals that: “Faith is the foundation of what is hoped for and proof of what cannot be seen. For this faith our ancestors were approved by God. By faith, we know that the worlds were formed by the word of God, so that the visible world originated from the invisible. By faith, Abel offered God a better sacrifice than that of Cain and according to it he was declared just, having God attested to accept his gifts; for it, though dead, he still speaks. By faith, Enoch was taken away, so as not to see death; and he was not found anymore, because God had taken him away. In fact, before being taken elsewhere, he was declared a person pleasing to God. Without faith it is impossible to be acceptable to him; in fact, whoever comes close to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him”. If faith is the foundation of what cannot be seen, what did the Apostles fail to do? What have they failed in?

We can give the answer, letting ourselves be helped by the Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps 23 (22), 1-6).  Jesus is in the midst of the threatening waters of the cross. He has faith in God. He believes in his Word. The Word says that after “his intimate torment he will see the light”. He will not perish on the cross. He will not end in the tomb. “You will not allow your Saint to see corruption.” Jesus does not ask for the storm to end. He knows that through the storm he will reach his glorious resurrection.

On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, “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?”

The Apostles walk with Jesus, but only with their body. With their mind and heart, their spirit and rationality and intelligence they are far from his mystery. Jesus revealed of him that he is the Messiah of God, that he is superiour to Moses, Elijah, Elisha and all the other prophets and righteous people of the Old Testament. None of these men has been lost walking with the Lord. Nothing either of the earth, or of the sky, or of under the earth, has ever prevailed against them. Nature never overwhelmed them. They have always won over nature. If Jesus is true God, as well as a true man, if he has to fulfil his mission of salvation, the one that the Father has entrusted to him, might he ever die in the middle of the sea? Might ever God start a work without bringing it to completion?

Faith must see the invisible. It is a true human act, that is, an act of the whole of man: intelligence, wisdom, discernment, rationality and capacity for argumentation and deduction. The Apostles still see Jesus in single acts, they cannot put together all his manifestations, his revelations and his many miracles. They often don’t even remember what happened a moment before. They are still not builders of faith. In truth, faith is like a house. As the house is built stone on stone and brick on brick, so is faith. It must be built truth on truth, word on word, sign on sign, miracle on miracle, prophecy on prophecy and revelation on revelation. A brick is not the house. A truth is not faith. Today many disciples of Jesus are like the Apostles, They are not builders of faith, indeed they are its demolishers. They think that faith is composed of a single truth or a single human feeling.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, arrange that every Christian is a true builder of true faith.