Reflection for Sunday June 25th
Faith In God
“Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey?” (Mark 4:41) If the apostles had any doubts about who this Jesus of Nazareth might be, they should have been wiped away when Christ ordered the storm to cease. The readings of today all deal with water, the essence of all live. According to scientists all live evolved from water. Without water human life would cese to exist. The fact that Almighty God have dominion over the water and can call it forth or cause it to cease should strengthen our faith in Almighty God.
Even though scientist have tried to control the weather and bring rain to the parched areas of the earth and divert it from areas that are being flooded because of too much rain, they have had little success. This should tell us that there are some things that man cannot control.
“Why are you terrified, do you not yet have faith?” These words of Jesus are being said to us even today. We go about claiming that we believe and have faith but we are like the apostles, we tend to question God by doubting his will.
I have learned, that everything that happens to us has a reason. Granted, when we are going through it, especially when it is not something that we like, we ask ourselves “Why is this happening to me?” I had that thought more times than I can count, but now, looking back I fully understand why. I had lessons to learn, lessons that I needed to know before I could truly serve God completely. Lessons I had to learn that would make me stronger in my faith. Lessons that better prepared me to deal with life situations I would encounter. Lessons I needed to understand and master before I could answer the call I felt God calling me too from my childhood.
This is not to say that I do not have many more lessons to learn, but now when I encounter something that is not what I would have preferred to happen, I put my trust and faith in God and search for the lesson it is trying to teach me. I Trust that God’s will is what will ultimately be done. In other words I totally place my life in His hands.
The story of Job is one of the strongest lessons I find in scripture, The devil had bet God that he could shatter jobs faith. God told Lucifer to go ahead with the test but the only stipulation was that Satan could not harm Job. As today’s reading from Job tells us, God set limits on Satan, “Thus far shall you come, but no farther” (Job 38:11). Job never gave up hope in the Lord, even when everything he had was taken away. God rewarded Job with the return of everything a thousand fold. So it shall be with us! If we do not give up, if we believe and trust that God will provide for us and will only do what is best for us, we too will be rewarded.
Almighty God is a merciful and forgiving God, His compassion and mercy are unlimited and everlasting. All we need to do is put our faith and trust in Him and live as Christ has requested of us. We need to be conscience of all of His children’s needs, to show them love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness and generosity. We need to “Love one another as I have loved you” by being mindful of how our actions affect others and not allow ourselves to do anything that would bring one of God’s children pain and suffering. This is the message I get from today’s readings. To place out trust and faith not in man, but in God. We need to believe in ourselves and accept ourselves as God created us and make the best of the gifts he has given us in serving Him according to His will. By doing this we show our trust and faith in Him and He will in turn take care of us. AMEN
Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
Mission Saint Sergius and Bacchus
www.missionstsergius.orghttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry
http://missionstsergius.org/blog.html
