I’ve met countless people who run their lives based on fear. 

They choose to get married because they are afraid of growing old alone. They choose to stay in a crappy job because they’re afraid they might never find another one. They choose to stay in an abusive relationship because they’re afraid no one else can love them.

These people allow others to run their lives. They fear what other people say. They allow the strong winds and waves to rattle them like the Apostles in the boat.

If you feel unhappy with your life right now, ask yourself this question: Is fear your fuel? If you answered yes, hear me out: the only antidote to fear is love.

Allow God to love you. And choose to love yourself. Be deliberate and choose what you want to do and where you want to go. Create your future. Let your life be fueled by love. Let God’s love calm every storm of fear in your life.

And be happy.

Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com)

reflect

What fearful area of your life do you want God to calm down? Surrender it to Him, and receive His love.

Dear Jesus, thank You for Your love that drives out all fear. Amen.

St. Junipero Serra, pray for us.

In the time of Abraham, everything that exhibited power was attributed to the hand of God at work. There was probably a violent earthquake in Sodom. There was no science yet to explain such disasters, so it was seen as a sign of God’s anger on the city. Today, we know better and would not interpret a natural disaster in such a way. They are not good things nor are they punishment for sin. They are examples of physical evil that cause suffering, and there is little we can do to stop them.

¹⁵ As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, “On your way! Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of Sodom.” ¹⁶ When he hesitated, the men, by the Lord’s mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city. ¹⁷ As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told: “Flee for your life! Don’t look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away.” ¹⁸ “Oh, no, my lord!” Lot replied, ¹⁹ “You have already thought enough of your servant to do me the great kindness of intervening to save my life. But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me, and so I shall die. ²⁰ Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It’s only a small place. Let me flee there—it’s a small place, is it not?—that my life may be saved.” ²¹ “Well, then,” he replied, “I will also grant you the favor you now ask. I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ²² Hurry, escape there! I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” That is why the town is called Zoar. ²³ The sun was just rising over the earth as Lot arrived in Zoar; 24 at the same time the Lord rained down sulfurous fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven. 25 He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt. ²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s presence. ²⁸ As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain, he saw dense smoke over the land rising like fumes from a furnace. ²⁹ Thus it came to pass: when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he was mindful of Abraham by sending Lot away from the upheaval by which God overthrew the cities where Lot had been living.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 26:2-3, 9-10, 11-12

R: O Lord, your mercy is before my eyes.

² Search me, O Lord, and try me; test my soul and my heart. ³ For your mercy is before my eyes, and I walk in your truth. (R) ⁹ Gather not my soul with those of sinners, nor with men of blood my life. ¹⁰ On their hands are crimes, and their right hands are full of bribes. (R) ¹¹ But I walk in integrity; redeem me, and have pity on me. ¹² My foot stands on level ground; in the assemblies I will bless the Lord. (R) 

Gospel | Matthew 8:23-27

Jesus calls us to have faith and trust in Him. It does not matter what storms we encounter in our lives. God is there with us to see us through, so there is no need to be anxious or worried. his is the difference that faith can make in the life of a believer. Let us pray for a strong faith, such that we will stand firm despite the difficulties we encounter.

Gospel Acclamation

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?”

Reflect:

What storms and difficulties in life are you experiencing? How are you handling these trials?

Read the Bible in one year! Read 2 CHRONICLES 1 - 3 today.

Today’s Gospel passage is a big reality check. There is no doubt about the willingness of the disciples to follow the Lord wherever He went. “He entered into the boat and the disciples followed Him,” we are told. They entered not just a boat, but an eventual maelstrom. It was a brewing disaster and the threats it posed were obvious to all, especially to the disciples whose initial enthusiasm and lightheartedness were soon replaced by mortal fear.

Their prayer was as sincere as it was urgent and pleading. It was a plea for help. “Lord, save us!” That was the first part. “We are perishing!” The second part.

During tough times, it is common for many people to highlight and focus only on the second part. We see the waves. We feel being swamped by problems, both real and imagined. We easily forget the nice time associated with our Baptism, our First Communion, our Confirmation, wedding, or—in my case—my ordination day.

When the hard truths of daily life upset our original setup, our minds and hearts undergo a veritable reset. We lose our moorings. We panic, and we jump to conclusions and declare with desperation: “We are perishing!”

This is a big reality check now as we face so many looming and emerging waves that seem poised to swamp over us all. The list is legion: the bully country northwest of us, threatening our sovereignty; the massive corruption in all levels of government; the seeming absence now of the rule of law all over the land; the seeming confusion and chaos in the Church that we all love. Name it, we have it!

Today, even as we feel terrified, we are called to pit real faith against these hard truths. “We are perishing. Lord, save us!”

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

reflection question

When you are swamped by challenges and trials, who do you turn to?

Lord, save us! Amen.

Today, I pray for: ______________________________________