Sunday Reflection with Fr Terry Tastard - 7 August 2011

Turner - Stormy Sea

The Bible opens with chaotic waters. We read that 'darkness was on the face of the waters' - the Bible wants us to visualise the earth in its early days as a howling, churning mass of waters. But this is not all: 'The Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.' The Spirit brought order. The waters know their place and are tamed. Creation begins. Life begins to climb the evolutionary ladder. But the people of Israel remembered that the sea could still retain its fury. It became a symbol of the uncertainty of life, with its original destructive power still able to break out occasionally. Indeed, in the north of the country they were reminded of this by the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee is in a bowl surrounded by mountains. Through those mountains there are gaps, and sometimes when the wind blows through those gaps it is a like a funnel blast. The placid waters of Galilee can suddenly become a raging mass of foam and waves. The people who lived by its shores knew this. The waters brought life, not only water to drink but also fish to eat. But woe betide the unwary fisherman or traveller caught out on the waters when the wind blew up a storm. So the story we hear today (Matt. 14.22-33) would mean much to those who heard it in the early Church. Yes, it is a story about Jesus calming the Sea of Galilee. But it would also have been a symbol of the chaos that haunts the world, that can still break through and threaten to swamp us, like the sea circling the earth, a source of life, and also of destruction. Peter sets out to walk on the water. At first, this might seem … well, a little crazy. But we need to remember that Peter is reaching out to Jesus who has just spoken a word of encouragement. Then suddenly, feeling the force of the wind, Peter feels afraid, and starts to sink.

As so often, fear is the enemy. The disciple of Jesus in our own day and age must sometimes launch out across treacherous waters. If you want to speak a word a reconciliation at a time and place when people are speaking words of hatred and division, then you may face a storm of resentment. If you seek to live by spiritual values at a time when others are fascinated by material wealth, then you will face a storm of ridicule. Anyone in this position will suddenly feel, like Peter did, the force of the wind, and fear surges up, bringing a loss of confidence and the sinking feeling that accompanies doubt. In these and other stormy situations of life, Jesus reaches out. Indeed, in today's gospel we hear (v 31) that Jesus 'put out his hand at once and held him'. That is so powerful: in the storms of life, when fear and uncertainty drag us down, the hand of Jesus holds us. This was the faith of the first Christians, which is why they treasured this story. In the storms of life Jesus unhesitatingly offers us his hand. We feel the wound in his hand, and know that the waters of chaos will not win.

Fr Terry is Parish Priest at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Brook Green, west London. His latest book: Ronald Knox and English Catholicism is published by Gracewing at £12.99 and is available on Amazon, on ICN's front page. To read Sr Gemma Simmonds' review on ICN see: www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16114