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Missio NZ, X###x, Auckland (2026)

06/09/2024

Word Among Us
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
8 September 2024

Isaiah 35:4-7
“Then will the…ears of the deaf be cleared.” – Isaiah 35:5

Anyone who has ever experienced hearing loss knows how isolating it can be. The deaf man in today’s Gospel must have also struggled with not being able to take part in conversations or understand what was being said. So when Jesus took him off by himself, looked to heaven, and said, “Be opened!” the man’s life changed radically (Mark 7:34).

In today’s first reading, the prophet Isaiah promised that when the Lord came to deliver Israel, he would heal the blind and deaf (35:5). The people who witnessed the deaf man’s healing saw this promise fulfilled in Jesus and even alluded to it when they said, “He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (Mark 7:37).

Jesus came to open our ears, too. He doesn’t want us to be isolated from him or others. But we can’t be healed of our “spiritual deafness” if we fail to spend time with him each day. We need to get “away from the crowd” (Mark 7:33) – away from all the clatter and distractions so that we can better listen to what Jesus wants to say to us. We also need a heart open to hearing his words, especially if he shows us where we need to change.

We can be deaf, too, to the people around us, most especially our loved ones. We can tune out their concerns and struggles because we’ve heard them one too many times. Or we can listen to their words but not really try to understand what’s going on beneath the surface, in their hearts.

That’s why it’s important to start each day asking the Lord to “clear” your ears (Isaiah 35:5). He wants you to hear him speaking to you, and he wants you to really listen to the people in your life. Just as he opened the ears of the man in today’s Gospel, you can trust that he will open your ears, too. There’s so much he wants you to bear and understand!

“Jesus, I want to listen. Open my ears today!”

Word in Other Words by Vicente Uy, SVD

Today is the feast of the Nativity of Mary.

Why is the nativity of Mary so important? The nativity of Mary is of vital importance because it prepares the way for the birth of Christ. Her birth will advance God’s plan of salvation for the world. Through Mary, the “Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”

Here, we see the instrumentality of Mary in the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. We can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the world. This is true in a magnificent way in Mary. St. Augustine, in the light of Mary’s nativity, described her as “the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley.”

As we know it, birthday celebrations always bring happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. In the case of Mary’s birth, it offers the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth, we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts in particular, and the world in general.

The connection between our Gospel reading today and the feast of Mary’s nativity may be seen in the opening prayer at Mass where it speaks of the birth of Mary’s Son as “the dawn of our salvation”. For through Jesus, the dawn of salvation has indeed come. Without him, we would, in a way, still be in darkness today.

31/08/2024

Word Among Us
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 September 2024

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders?” – Mark 7:5

If a little is good, wouldn’t more be better? That seems to be the underlying logic of the Pharisees and scribes in today’s Gospel reading. They saw the purity rules from the Law of Moses as a good thing – and they were. These rules set God’s people apart among the nations and were meant to form his own character in them (see Deuteronomy 4:1, 6-7).

But the thirst for “more” of a good thing led to the addition of extra rituals for washing and purification over the centuries. And by the time these Pharisees confronted Jesus about his disciples’ behaviour, they were trying to uphold countless detailed but unwritten customs that were considered by some to be just as binding as the Mosaic law.

In the end, these attempts to revere God turned into what Jesus called “cling[ing] to human tradition” (Mark 7:8). These extra practices, though well intentioned, focused attention in the wrong direction.

Jesus’ response gets to the heart of the matter – our hearts! What we eat or how we wash our hands doesn’t make us unclean. We defile ourselves by our thoughts, words, and actions that spring from within us (Mark 7:23). Growing in purity and godliness starts in our hearts and moves into our words and actions from there.

That means that the answer to your thirst for holiness isn’t about adding more “rules” to help you become even more pure. It’s asking yourself questions like “What’s going on in my heart? What’s motivating me?” If you see sinful attitudes, repent. Let the Lord uproot them and replace them with his own thoughts and desires. Then receive God’s power to change as you set your heart on loving him and loving the people he’s put into your life. That’s how you can get more of a good thing as you seek to follow God’s laws.

“Lord, help me to follow you with all of my heart!”

Word in Other Word by Magdaleno Fabiosa, SVD

It is a consequence of our being human that our innermost sentiments and convictions get externalised through words and actions. Words are the vehicles of our innermost thoughts and feelings. In primitive times a word of a person was sacred. When making agreements no guarantees were needed except “giving one’s word”. A word of a person was enough. This transparency is not anymore the case in our modern and developed world. A word is not enough because it does not anymore express what is inside us. We hide behind our words. We say “yes” when we mean “no”. That is why when making agreements we need so many kinds of guarantees and collaterals because a word is not anymore enough.

The same may happen in our relationship with God. Every religion has its own set of rituals. There are rituals connected with a religious actions of a community at a place of worship. What we are doing at this celebration of the Eucharist, for example, is composed of a set of rituals that get repeated all over the Christian world on a Sunday. Rituals are consequent to our being human. We need to express externally, in sets of actions, what we feel deep inside is regarding our relationship with God. Some rituals are official others are ordinary actions that individuals practice in the course of a day. Some ordinary ritual practices, for example, are: what people usually do when they visit a church, praying before eating, making the sign of the cross before one does any activity. These practices are meant to make religion permeate every action of a person during the day.

Rituals externalise our inner experience of a personal relationship with God. It is not important, therefore, what these actions are. If wiping the statue of Jesus, Mary, or any favourite saint, with a handkerchief, evokes this personal relationship one has with God and makes one aware of the responsibilities he/she has as a Christian, who am I to criticise such a practice? Who am I to criticise somebody’s practice of saying the rosary when such practice occasions for the individual a chance to contemplate Jesus whom we all are supposed to follow and imitate? The same can be said regarding the practice of walking on one’s knees in prayer, lighting votive candles, and attending regular novenas weekly. What is to be avoided, however, is that these practices do not degenerate into an activity of performance.

This is what angered Jesus against the Pharisees. He laughs at them saying, “Empty is the reverence that they show me.” We need to guard against identifying religion with performing external acts. Going to church, saying prayers, reading the bible, and giving to charity do not in themselves guarantee holiness, if we do all these for the wrong motive and in an unloving way. What counts is not so much what we do as why we do them.

Last Sunday, I related a story about Malcolm Muggeridge who was converted from agnosticism to the Catholic faith. According to him what brought about this conversion was the fact that everything that Mother Teresa did reminded him of a God whom he, for so long, took for granted. There was a transparency between what she did and the motive that moved her from inside – her love for God. Thus she became a powerful symbol, a transparent instrument of God’s presence.

This is actually what Jesus is trying to bring home in today’s Gospel, that from the abundance of our hearts, our life must speak. If our Christian behaviour is motivated other than our love for God, then our Christian life cannot become an instrument of God’s presence, it loses its power to attract.

You must have seen scarecrows in rice fields. They are made up of old rice stalks dressed up in man’s used clothes and put on top of bamboo poles. They are to ward off birds, especially mayas that come in droves. Once I saw that the image of the scarecrow was losing some of its power when I noticed that mayas were feeding themselves on the rice. Just how much it had lost its symbolic power was even more evident when I saw some birds sitting on the head of the scarecrow. There is an obvious conclusion here. An image without essence will eventually lose its power to do its job. This is what happens when religion is only an outward form and religious rituals are not experienced in the heart; it loses its symbolic and attracting power. Outward form and image are important, but it is our hearts that Jesus wants and is concerned about. Let it never be said of us what Jesus said of the Pharisees in today’s Gospel: “This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…”

15/08/2024

Word Among Us
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
18 August 2024

John 6:51-58
“My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” – John 6:55

In 1975, while travelling to Saigon, Vietnamese Bishop Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was arrested and thrown into prison. His family sent him a bottle labelled “medicine,” which was actually wine, as well as some hosts broken into small pieces. With these essentials, he shared the power of Jesus in the Eucharist with his fellow prisoners:

“The six Catholics in my group of fifty prisoners…slept close together in order to be able to pray during the night. At nine-thirty every evening…, I bent over my wooden board and celebrated Mass, by heart of course, and distributed Communion to my neighbours under their mosquito nets. We made tiny bags from cigarette paper to protect the Blessed Sacrament.

“Every week there was an indoctrination session…My Catholic companions took advantage of the break to pass around the Blessed Sacrament to other groups. Jesus Christ at work, curing physical and mental suffering. Many of the others who had lost their faith came back during those days.

“At night, the prisoners took turns and spent time in Adoration. The Blessed Sacrament helped tremendously. Even Buddhists and other non-Christians were converted. The strength of the love of Jesus is irresistible. The darkness of the prison turned into light, the seed germinated silently in the storm.

“I spent nine years in solitary confinement, and during that time I said Mass every day at three o’clock, the hour of Jesus’ death on the cross… They were the most beautiful Masses of my life.” (The Road to Hope)

After thirteen years in prison, Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan was released. Named a cardinal in 2001, he died a year later. All his life, Jesus in the Eucharist was his “true food” and “true drink” (John 6:55). May the Eucharistic Lord always be ours as well!

“Jesus, Bread from Heaven, nourish and sustain all the days of my life!”

Word in Other Words by Atilano Corcuera, SVD

In one community I was invited to preside over the Mass and, after the dismissal, I noticed that the people flocked to the front. A server handed me two green containers which I thought were alcohol to disinfect my hands. Then a lay minister whispered to my ear to go and sprinkle the community with the holy water from the green containers. Otherwise, people would not go home.

This is an unfortunate development or “creativity” introduced, I heard, in many churches already. Why unfortunate? Because it waters down the greatest blessing that we received in the Mass – the holy communion. Looking at the mass goers, who won’t leave the church until after the sprinkling of water, I cannot but feel that they give more importance to the holy water than what they have received in the Mass.

This also happens when sermons of popular priests are posted on social media, minus the Consecration at Mass; as if the centre of the celebration is the homily. Moreover, it also happens that after attending the Mass, some mass goers remain and pray so many devotions plus the rosary. Though unaware, it gives the impression that the Mass is not yet enough, it has to be completed still by other prayers.

Here is what Vatical II says about the Mass: “Liturgy is a sacred action surpassing all others. It is the summit…and fount from which all the Church power flows.”

After a Mass with retired sisters, I passed by one sister on a wheelchair, still holding the consecrated host in her hand. I gently asked what she was doing. She replied that she was talking to the host. To which I whispered in her ear, “Sister, Jesus said ‘take and eat,’ not ‘take and talk’. So go and eat it now, then talk to him.”

03/08/2024

Word Among Us
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
4 August 2023

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15
“What is this?” – Exodus 16:15

Interesting question! The Israelites had complained that they longed for bread. And God promised to give them their fill of bread. So why were they puzzled by what they saw that morning in the desert? Because what God provided for them didn’t look like any bread they had ever seen. In fact, the name of this mystifying substance, manna, is a clever play on the Hebrew phrase man hu, which means “What is this?”

The crowds in today’s Gospel had a similar response. They wanted Jesus to feed them again, as he had done miraculously the day before (John 6:10-13). But instead of food, he offered them the Bread of Life, his own body and blood. Jesus was promising to feed them in a completely different way than they had expected, and that didn’t make sense to them. You can imagine them asking, “What is this?”

It can be a challenge to recognise how God is providing for us, especially if our prayers aren’t answered in the way we desire. Or when our hearts are set on one thing, but God gives us something different. And when God provides for us in ways we don’t expect, we might ask, “What is this?”

Nowhere is this more clear than when we receive the Eucharist at Mass. What might look like simple bread and wine is actually Jesus himself, who heals, forgives, and brings life. We might come to Mass looking for one thing, only to find that Jesus offers us something deeper. We want answers, but he gives us his very self. We want a way out of a problem, but he gives us his grace to walk through it. In this unlikely form of bread and wine, we find the One who is the answer to all of our needs!

So let’s trust that God knows the sustenance we need. He hears the cries of our hearts and he provides for us in ways we could never imagine. Let’s open our hearts to receive the Bread of Life that he gives us today!

“Jesus, help me to receive what you provide for me.”

Word In Other Words by Anthony Salas, SVD

This Sunday is Fil-Mission Sunday. The Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP), the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS/Blue Sisters), and Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAP/Pink Sisters), and other religious congregations of men and women have been sending Filipino/Filipina missionaries abroad. In the SVD alone, there are around 120 Filipino priests and brothers assigned in more than 35 countries of Africa, South, Central, and North America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

The followers of Jesus asked in today’s Gospel, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Mission work is the work of God, the Father. The Incarnation of Jesus, the Son, is the fulfillment of this mission. To “accomplish the works of God” is for us to believe in the one he sent, Jesus the Divine Word. He lived among us. He witnessed to the Father. He saved us from our sins and finally brought us back to the Father. The work of missionaries is to continue the work of Jesus of bringing everyone back to God.

Believing in Jesus means no more thirst and no more hunger. The missionaries provide material and economic services so that hunger and thirst are addressed. But most importantly it is the pastoral, spiritual, and moral ministry wherein the inner and universal need of human beings for peace, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, love and salvation of souls are what missionaries labour and offer their lives for. We can support the “works of God” that missionaries are doing through our prayers, and that they persevere in their work. We can also offer our material and financial help to support them in their ministry and well-being.

13/07/2024

Word Among Us
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
14 July 2024

Mark 6:7-13
“Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out.” – Mark 6:7

How do you think the apostles reacted when Jesus told them he was sending them out to preach, heal the sick, and drive out demons? Maybe they had a moment of panic, or as least some trepidation. They probably wondered if they could do what he as asking!

No matter how they felt, the Twelve were able to go out and minister to the surrounding towns because they believed in Jesus, if he was calling them to this work, then they trusted that he would help them accomplish it.

That’s the kind of faith we all need when God calls us to do something we feel unqualified or unworthy to carry out”

Faith that Jesus is truly calling us and “sending us out” in some way. That kind of faith requires you to trust that he has some kind of mission just for you and that through prayer or in Adoration, you will hear what he has in mind. Faith that the Lord will equip us to do this work. You may see only what you lack, but the Lord sees all your gifts, some of which you might not even be aware of. He has confidence in your abilities, and he might even send you new gifts – as well as other believers – to help you. Faith that our efforts will bear fruit. You might not see such fruit immediately, and perhaps you will never see it in your lifetime. But you can trust that the Lord had a purpose for you in mind and that if you are faithful to him, he will be able faithful to you.

Where is God sending you today? It might not require you to “go” very far – it could very well be to your parish, neighbourhood, or workplace. And unlike the apostles, you can bring more than a walking stick with you! What you need is a heaping amount of faith – and the Lord will give it to you if you ask for it!

“Lord, fill me with faith, and then send me out to join you in your saving work!”

05/07/2024

Word Among Us
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
7 July 2024

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
“I am content with weaknesses.” – 2 Corinthians 12:10

Is Paul joking? Who would be content with weakness? Most of us would want to be strong and in charge, at the top of our game. In fact, we are more likely to minimise or disguise our limitations or difficulties. So why would Paul be happy not only with weakness but also with “insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Because of all his suffering, including the “thorn in the flesh” that he describes in today’s second reading (2 Corinthians 12:7), had taught Paul a lesson. When he was at his weakest, humanly speaking, God’s strength flowed through him the most. When he stopped relying in his own gifts, the Lord’s power dwelt within him more perfectly.

St. Therese of Lisieux learned a similar lesson. Painfully aware of her own “littleness” and inability to “climb the stairs to holiness,” she found an elevator – the arms of her heavenly Father. Just as a small child relies on her father to lift her and carry her up the stairs, so Therese came to trust and rejoice in her heavenly Father’s strength to carry her in her weakness.

There is a freedom that comes with recognising our limitations and embracing this kind of childlike dependence on God. The more we honestly acknowledge our weakness, the more room we make for God’s strength to grow in us. We realise that there’s only so much we can do ourselves. But we also realise that as soon as we stop thinking everything depends on us, God will show us what he can do.

So let’s embrace our “littleness.” Let’s lean into our weakness and rely on God’s strength so that we can reveal his power more and more clearly.

“Father, I acknowledge my weakness. Lord, come and carry me!”

Word Among Us by Sonny de Rivera, SVD

During a homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis referred to jealousy and envy as the seeds of war. Then he said we must be attentive because it is a worm that creeps into all of our hearts – all of us! – and leads us to misjudge people because deep down, there’s a competition: he has something that I don’t (aletea.org).

Have we found ourselves imagining wrongdoings and faults of someone when there is none? Are we unable to say good words or compliment others for doing a good job? Are there people we know that we cruelly analyse with judgments and criticisms? If the answer is yes, then we have joined the bandwagon of jealousies which, according to Pope Francis, are criminals because they are always trying to kill.

Today’s readings depict the disrespect and disbelief shown to the prophet Jeremiah and Jesus in their hometown among their people. Although the people knew them and knew God sent them, they did not believe them. When Jesus taught in the synagogue, everyone started questioning where he had obtained the wisdom and power to do such mighty deeds. When they took offense at him, Jesus said: “A prophet is not without honour except in his native place and among his kin and in his own house.”

We know jealousy lurks in families, communities, workplaces, and religious groups, ready to pin down and pulverise its prey. Padre Pio, Sr. Faustina, and St. Therese experienced the envy of their peers in cloisters and monasteries because they were well known.

The tricky thing to accept is that we are not usually aware that we have feelings of jealousy. We want what that person has, whatever it might be. Yet, the object of our envy is no better than us. Let us be honest, how often have we derailed another person in their ideas and plans? How many times do we take pleasure in discrediting someone to feel better about ourselves?

Let each of us ask why we cannot stand that person. Why do we not even want to see that person? We often look for the reason and discover that it’s our imagination. God spares us from jealousy and envy by giving us the grace to see the reality of the situation. He invites us to look at ourselves.

To those who rejected Jesus, his response was that he no longer did many mighty deeds in that place where he was denied. It is excellent advice for us. If ever we experience being the target of jealousy, we should minimise or eliminate the very behaviour they are jealous of when we are with them. This is called downplaying and becoming less visible. Although not easy we are better off putting the person more on our level and letting the person feel we are on equal footing.

28/06/2024

Word Among Us
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
30 June 2024

Mark 5:21-43
“They were utterly astounded.” – Mark 5:42

Of course they were astounded! The disciples and the parents of this young girl had just seen Jesus raise her from the dead. Now she was walking around as if she had never been ill. Just a few minutes earlier, a woman suffering from a haemorrhage for twelve long years had been instantly cured just by touching Jesus’ cloak (Mark 5:27-29). Both were amazing displays of power, and both demonstrated that Jesus was no ordinary rabbi.

We don’t know if the young girl’s father or the afflicted woman really understood that Jesus was the Messiah when they reached out to him. But they must have sensed that he came from God, given what they had already heard about him. Clearly, they believed in his power enough to approach him for healing. Perhaps they didn’t know how their encounter with him would end, but they put their hope in him and stepped out in faith.

We do know that Jesus is the Son of God, and yet sometimes we can find ourselves doubting his power. Can he really heal me? Can he really forgive my most shameful sins? Will he one day raise me to new life? And yet the kinds of stories like the ones in today’s Gospel reading didn’t just happen in the past. Jesus still acts powerfully in our own time and place. Conversions, healings, answers to prayer – these continue to abound.

So believe in Jesus’ power, as Jairus and this woman did. Step out in faith and ask for what you need. Keep asking even if you don’t see immediate results. Even if it seems as if you’re not getting what you’re asking for, don’t give up hope! Believe that Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth, has the power – and the desire – to heal you and give you new life. This is why he came to earth, and he will do it, in his own perfect time and way!

“Jesus, I am reaching out to touch your cloak today. Heal me and pour your life into me!”

Word in Other Words by Dante Salces-Barril, SVD

God – according to our First Reading – “did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living” (Wis 1:13). But because of sin – generated by “envy of the devil” – death enters the world. However, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church beautifully puts it, “Death is transformed by Christ… The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blessing.” (CCC 1009).

The story of Jairus, the synagogue official in the Gospel, hints at the aforementioned transformation of death from curse to blessing. But before elaborating on that, we would like first to point to the extreme breadth of emotions that Jairus experiences in our Gospel today. He went from despair (a synagogue official falling at the feet of a provincial Rabbi) to a glimmer of hope (when Jesus went with him); then to a numbing pain (at the news of the death of her daughter); and finally, to an unspeakable joy (when his daughter was restored to him and his wife). If we notice Jairus spoke only at the beginning; in the rest of the story, he was silent. But with what he went through one cannot blame him; as my classmate likes to say, “I don’t know if a single heart is capable of felling all that.”

But apparently, Jairus’ fatherly heart handled everything just fine. The death of his daughter becomes for him and his family an experience of blessing. While on the surface the restoration of her daughter to life is a miracle, the real miracle is something more. His daughter will eventually die for sure (she was resuscitated, not resurrected) but his story lives forever. And unlike others who could not keep their mouth shut after Jesus healed and ordered them to keep silent, Jairus – whose heart must be bursting with joy – obeyed the master’s “injunction of secrecy.” Jairus “kept all in his heart.” Like the blessed Virgin Mother, he becomes a disciple. This is the story’s real miracle.

23/06/2024

Word Among Us
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
23 June 2024

Mark 4:35-41
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” – Mark 4:41

It wasn’t an unreasonable question for the disciples to ask. They had been with Jesus and seen him perform healings, teach crowds of people, even dispute with religious leaders. But they had never seen anything like this! Sure, as fishermen they knew how to survive violent squalls on the Sea of Galilee. But never had anyone done it by calming the wind and the waves with a command!

The disciples’ question is a good one for you to ask as well. Scriptural answers can help you not only recognise but also proclaim the power and goodness of the Lord.

Who is this? He is the Word of God, who was at the Father’s side from the beginning, the One through whom all things came to be (John 1:2-3). He was an active participant when the Father created everything. He is just as involved in your life.

Who is this? He is the same God as the One who “shut within doors the sea” and “set limits for it” (Job 38:8,10). Since he created all things, he has authority over those created things. Nothing is beyond his control, not even the greatest challenge you may be facing today.

Who is this? He is the One who, today’s responsorial psalm tells us, “hushed the storm to a gentle breeze” (107:29). He can bring peace to the turmoil in nature, and he can do the same for the turmoil in your own heart.

Who is this? He is the One whose word goes forth and accomplishes his purposes and plans in this world (Isaiah 55:11). He spoke, and all things came into being. His word has the same power in your life, the power to bring the healing, forgiveness, and peace that he proclaims.

Who is this? This is Jesus, eternal Son of the Father, who creates and sustains all things (Colossians 1:16-17). He holds all of creation together. And he holds all creation together. And he holds you and your loved ones as well.

“Jesus, I praise you, for though your word, you show me who you are – the all-powerful God!”

Word in Other Words by Edwin Fernandez, SVD

It was October of 2016 when we had a terrifying experience of super typhoon Lawin. Though our SVD community house in Laoag City was solidly built, it was seriously threatened by the strong winds. I remember well how an alarming noise on the roof of the house help on intensifying. The winds seemed to life the roof and carry it away. Overwhelmed with fear, I fell on my knees and begged the Lord to have mercy on us and save us.

Even when the disciples were with Jesus in a boat, they were not spared from going through a life-threatening experience. What was more difficult for them to understand was that, in the face of such a violent storm, their Master was sleeping. He seemed not to care that they would perish because he would not rise from sleep to save them. So they woke him up and poured out their disappointment: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” They did not realise, however, that their faith in Jesus was being put to a big test, and obviously, they failed the test. The great lesson they had to learn from that experience was to have complete trust in Jesus at all times and in all circumstances, even when he was sleeping. For as long as he was with them, they could overcome all obstacles. With his words, Jesus calmed the wind and the sea. These immediately obeyed him, and this greatly awed his disciples. With two questions, Jesus challenges us, his disciples, to examine our faith as we will surely meet trials in the sea of life: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”

In her poem entitled Living on Love, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus wrote: “Living on love, when Jesus is sleeping, is rest on stormy seas. Oh! Lord, don’t fear that I’ll wake you. I’m waiting in peace for Heaven’s shore… Faith will soon tear its veil. My hope is to see you one day. Charity swells and pushes my sail: I live on Love!” May the love of Christ impel us to trust fully in him and to live completely for him.

Missio NZ

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