Sunday, June 23, 2024 - «Lord, do you sleep?»

Rubén Tornero, LC

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Christ, our King.
Thy Kingdom come!

Preparatory prayer (to put me in the presence of God)

Jesus, I thank You for this moment that You are giving me to meet You. I believe in You, Jesus, but help me to believe firmly. I trust in you, in your power, but help me to know how to abandon myself in your arms. I love you, but give me an experience of your love. You love me, Jesus, no matter what I do. You love me for who I am... I want to love and praise you for who you are. Thank you, Jesus, for being who you are. To you the praise, the glory and my love forever. Amen.

Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Mark 4:35-41

One day, when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go to the other side of the lake.” Then the disciples sent the crowd away and led Jesus away in the same boat he was in. And there were other boats with them. Suddenly a strong wind came up, and the waves crashed against the boat and filled it with water. Jesus was asleep in the stern, reclining on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, “Master, do you not care that we are sinking?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Be quiet, be silent!” Then the wind ceased and a great calm ensued. Jesus said to them, “Why were you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” They were all terrified and said to one another, “Who is this man, whom even the wind and the sea obey?”.

Word of the Lord.

Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel

Jesus, You sleep in the middle of a storm. I don't know how you can do it. It is as if I were traveling in an airplane, the pilot said that he had just lost control of the plane and that we might crash, and I asked the stewardess for a pair of headphones to watch a movie... do you not care if they go down? I see so much evil in the world, so much violence, so much injustice... and You are silent, almost as if You were asleep... Do You not care where this world is going to end up, or do You sleep and do not know that we are drifting? I look at you in silence, there, in the tabernacle and I wonder if you sleep, if you do not care about so much pain... You woke up, Lord, and you rebuked the sea and the wind... and they obeyed you. In a second you changed the storm into calm and the unbelief of your disciples, into faith.

So many missionaries, so many priests and consecrated souls, so many lay people who, in silence, transform the worst storms into peace, bringing your word to hospitals, bread to the hungry and consolation to the sad... You do not sleep, Jesus. You work...yes, but in silence. And I neither hear your voice nor see your works because I am more busy watching and listening to the sea and the wind than looking at your works. Jesus, you look at me there, speaking in the depths of my heart, and you invite me to stop my sterile laments and to start working for the extension of your Kingdom.

I trust in you, Jesus, increase my trust! I too want to work for your Kingdom and for my brothers and sisters. I will do it. Give me the strength I need.

«We promise we will never forget you. We will never stop speaking for you. We assure you that we will do everything we can to open the eyes and hearts of the world. Peace is not the end of history. Peace is the beginning of a history linked to the future. Europe should know this better than any other continent. This beautiful island [Lesbos], where we are now, is just a dot on the map. To tame the wind and the rough sea Jesus commanded the wind to cease just as the boat in which he and his disciples were in distress. Then the calm followed the storm.
(Cf Speech of H.H. Francis, April 16, 2016).