“Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” – Matthew 8:26

Twenty-five years ago, I attended a graduation ceremony in PICC. Not as a speaker but as a photographer. My cousin was graduating and I volunteered to take his pictures. I borrowed a friend’s expensive camera, complete with a long lens. I took lots of photos. It was evening when the ceremony ended.

       After congratulating my cousin, I walked back to my borrowed car. (Borrowed car, borrowed camera… you see how poor I was then?) And that’s when I noticed that my bag was light. To my horror, the long lens was gone!

       I knew that it was expensive — more expensive than the camera itself. I stepped out of the car and looked back at the gigantic PICC. Where will I look first? I prayed, “Oh God, You’ve got to help me!” Immediately, I felt peace. I knew God was in charge.

       I walked back to the building, taking a shortcut through the grass. Picture this: I was walking on grass in the dark. And that was when I felt an inner nudge to stop walking. I did. At that exact spot, I felt the same nudge to bend over. I stooped down and touched something round. It was the camera lens!

       I remember that day and tell myself, “If God guides me for something as small as a camera lens, I believe God will guide me for the bigger things in my life.” Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com)

Lord, when the going gets rough, help me to keep going, fearless and full of faith that You will see me through.

Blessed Junipero Serra, pray for us.

Amos speaks of the compulsion involved with his calling. We will never know for sure but I believe part of the compulsion to speak out comes from the cry within us for a more just world. Amos would have seen much poverty in his few short years and may have experienced some of the worst of it himself. Combine this with a sense that God is calling him to speak out and you have a very potent motivation to proclaim a call for social justice.

1 Hear this word, O children of Israel, that the Lord pronounces over you, over the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt: 2 You alone have I favored, more than all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your crimes. 3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed? 4 Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from its den unless it has seized something? 5 Is a bird brought to earth by a snare when there is no lure for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground without catching anything? 6 If the trumpet sounds in a city, will the people not be frightened? If evil befalls a city, has not the Lord caused it? 7 Indeed, the Lord God does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets. 8 The lion roars — who will not be afraid! The Lord God speaks — who will not prophesy! 4: 11 I brought upon you such upheaval as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: you were like a brand plucked from the fire; yet you returned not to me, says the Lord. 12 So now I will deal with you in my own way, O Israel! and since I will deal thus with you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.

R: Lead me in your justice, Lord.

3 [4] At dawn I bring my plea expectantly before you. 4 [5] For you, O God, delight not in wickedness; no evil man remains with you; 5 [6] the arrogant may not stand in your sight. (R) You hate all evildoers; 6 [7] you destroy all who speak falsehood; the bloodthirsty and the deceitful the Lord abhors. (R) 7 [8] But I, because of your abundant mercy, will enter your house; I will worship at your holy temple in fear of you, O Lord. (R)

There will always be crises in our lives. How they affect us will depend largely on how we deal with them. Too often we look directly at the problem and get

caught up in its immediacy that we are unable to see beyond it or around it. The result is always panic. We need to face our crises with the sure faith that there is always a way through them because this is what God has promised us.

I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in his word.

23 As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. 25 They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” 26 He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. 27 The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?”

think:  We need to face our crises with the sure faith that there is always a way through them because this is what God has promised us.

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR 1 Chronicles 25-27

PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT

The ultimate purpose of my life

GOALS FOR THE QUARTER

Priority areas God wants me to work on

A STRIKING QUESTION, A STINGING REBUKE —

FOR A PURPOSE

“Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Jesus directed this question  to His disciples who were panicking on a boat during a violent storm (as narrated in today’s Gospel). Perhaps it’s the very same question which the Lord asks us too, time and again. Indeed, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”

       Perhaps He strikes a raw nerve in us, especially with the second part of the question. Yes, we humbly admit it, we are of little faith. And as if to rub it in even more, the Lord seems to scold and berate us, too.

       But let us not be onion-skinned and chicken-hearted. The Lord has a purpose in it. Even as He allows trials and temptations to come our way, God, in His mysterious ways, also wants to test us, strengthen us, purify us. And we, for our part, just have to trust Him through it all.

       In the end, it was the disciples who asked a question. In their utter amazement at what had happened, they couldn’t help but ask of Jesus, “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?”

       We need not be amazed or surprised. Jesus is such a sort of man. In fact, He is not just a man —He is God as well. God, not so much in the sense of a Supreme Being with supernatural powers and miraculous deeds, but more importantly, Jesus is the true God who can calmly sleep through the worst storms — not because He doesn’t care about us, but because, in the first place, He is confident and in control of everything. And that includes everything that’s going on in our lives.

       He is that caring. And should the need arise, He will also reprimand us just as He rebuked the winds and the sea. He will admonish us for our lack of faith. But then again, we know the reason and the purpose for it. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Have you ever felt the Lord’s rebuke? How did you respond to it?

Lord, sorry for the times I didn’t trust You enough. Help me to deepen my faith in You.