Tuesday, 07-04-23
PRI Reflections of Scripture | Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
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Gospel
Matthew 8:23-27

As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying,
"Lord, save us!  We are perishing!"
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.
The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?”

Reflection
Jesus asks another question, much like he did yesterday in the Gospel. Yesterday it was, “Why do you doubt?” In this one,

“Why are you terrified? O, you of little faith.” It's not so much winds and sea that we worry about, but it's the chaos of the world. It's the division that we see. It's the falling apart of institutions, integrity, all of that, and we are worried and people are afraid. And we have to listen to these words: Why are you terrified?

I am here. I can calm this, not by fixing it, but by creating a new, a calm center of trust and faith.

Closing Prayer
Father, one of the things that happens when we are around people who are afraid is kind of contagious, and so it's so important that you would give us the strength to be calm in the midst of those that are afraid, knowing that we're offering them the hope and the trust in a God who will not let us be destroyed. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.