Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time (January 27, 2018): Trust in Me!

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 4:35-41).

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples, “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?”

Good News Reflection: 

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, you were so firm with your disciples when they doubted you. Increase my faith in you. Let me trust more in your love for me. Let me feel your paternal love always. I hope in you and your goodness towards me. I love you and I trust you.

Petition:Lord grant me a greater faith and trust in you.

1. Jesus Asleep In the Garden of Gethsemane, the three chosen disciples slept. In the boat, Christ slept. There is all the difference in the world between these two “naps.” When the disciples slept, Christ was left totally alone at a time when he most needed their company. In the boat, Christ had not left his disciples alone. He was fully with them and would have protected them from all possible danger. Do I fall asleep when Christ needs me? Do I tune him out at times, when he so desperately wants me to listen to him and be with him? Do I trust in his constant protective presence in my life?

2. He Never Gives Up on Them, or Me Christ’s patience is infinite. We test his patience everyday so many times and in so many ways. Sometimes we do it in ways that we are not even aware of. The cry from Christ’s heart is not because he is threatening to stop being patient. This cry is because he wants us to stop wasting time away from him and trust more in him and his action in our lives. Life is short––very short––and eternity is coming.

3. Ask for His Help Our life on earth is a combination of a tremendous amount of grace from God and a little collaboration on our part. Is faith hard for you? Ask for more! Is doubt in some element of what the Church teaches tearing you apart? Take it to prayer. Christ is demanding, but always helping. Never will we be tested beyond the strength of his grace that is available to us.

Dialogue with Christ: Lord, your apostles had made so much progress in their time with you, but they still doubted. My life is riddled with doubt even after the many times that I have seen you take action in it. My self-sufficiency is my demise. I need to trust you all the time. I need to distrust myself and my abilities.

Resolution: I will think of the one thing in my ordinary life that I fear the most and I will put it in God’s hands, asking for the grace to trust him with it fully

Fr. Marcial Maciel, LC

• Vatican
• HĐGM Việt Nam
• CSsR
• DCCT
• Nhà sách Đức Mẹ
• Đức Mẹ Hằng Cứu Giúp