Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
The personal and social value of the faith
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?” Mk 4,35-41
The passage of the today’s gospel is a parable always in place. The disciples are tested to see if they really understood the message of Jesus The test result is negative, they did not understand anything because the result of the understanding of the gospel must be the faith which they have not yet. Jesus, then, a little disappointed and a bit ironic, asks them: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”. The teaching of the gospel today, then, is this: you may belong to the Church, which means to be on the boat, but it can happen to not understand the message of the gospel and, consequently, to not have faith. And the end result is that the difficulties and the storms of the world toss us from all the sides. Here it is, then, that the practical benefit of those who daily meditates on the word of God is the faith, which exorcises the powers of the evil, which do their best to create for ourselves a thousand difficulties. The today’s gospel, however, in addition to show the benefits of the personal faith, shows us also the social advantages. In fact on the lake there are many other boats which do not have Jesus on board, but they also enjoy the calm which is created after the Lord said to the sea: “Quiet! Be still!”. The faith, namely, of those who believe to the message of the gospel results also in exorcise the negative events of the society in which we live.