Saint Thomas Aquinas
Mk 4:35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Surprised By God
I wonder a bit at the reaction of the disciples to Jesus’ miracle of calming the storm. They were terrified, and so they woke him up. They had already seen him perform other miracles, so it seems to me that when they woke him they were perhaps expecting him to do something miraculous. And then they were amazed when he did just that. Maybe that is the reason Jesus sounds rather exasperated when he asks them “Have you still no faith?”
How often are we surprised when our prayers are answered? Granted, prayers are not always – or even often, it feels – answered in the way that we expect. So it’s possible we are sometimes justified in our surprise. But I wonder how often God just shakes his head when we are amazed that he has answered our prayers.
—Mandy Dillon is a Retreat Coordinator at Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House in Barrington, IL and is also in the Spiritual Direction Internship program there.
Prayer
Loving God, we know that you want to give us every good gift. Help us to remember that and to be thankful for each and every answered prayer, even when the answer is different from what we might expect. Amen.
—Mandy Dillon