Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Today's Gospel ends with the words,
Their hearts were hardened.
And words which St. Mark refers to the apostles who were in the boat
and had seen the miracle of the loaves and fishes
and then saw our Lord walking upon the water.
Just before he says their hearts were hardened,
he says that they did not understand the incident of the loaves.
Really, what was there to understand?
They had five loaves and two fishes
and our Lord broke the bread and distributed the loaves and the fishes
and everyone had enough to eat.
There wasn't anything really to understand other than it was a miracle.
And God worked his power through our Lord
who they knew spoke with authority.
They followed our Lord around.
They were his specially chosen disciples
to become apostles because
he had called them and they had responded.
They had seen that there was something about
our Lord that was different.
He spoke with authority.
He worked miracles.
And yet for some reason,
darkness still crept into their hearts
to the point that St. Mark would say
their hearts were actually hardened.
Which is something we generally attribute
we would say of someone who was deep in sin
or who was completely impervious to the grace of God.
We know that wasn't the case with the apostles
and yet when it came down to the nitty gritty,
very often they failed to respond
the way the Lord wanted them to.
And of course our Lord was patient.
He lived with them for three years
and these were all...
teaching occasions
and learning occasions
for the apostles.
So here they were in this boat
and they were being tossed along
on the waves
by the wind
and were afraid for their lives.
And meanwhile,
our Lord was on the shore
and at first he was by himself
praying.
They went into the boat
and began to cross the sea
and our Lord went off to pray by himself
and let them
sort of stew in their juices
as they were being tossed on the sea.
And little by little
he made his way to the shore
and it says it was in the evening
and he saw that they were in distress.
And then he walked on the water
and he was going to walk right by them.
He didn't walk to their boat.
It wasn't as though
his actions
indicated that his purpose
was to go to the boat
and console them
or stop the wind
or somehow come to save the day.
He tarried on the shore
praying by himself
and then came down to the shore
and all of a sudden
all this time
they were under duress
and he saw that they were under duress
and then he came out onto the sea
and his intention was to walk right by them
until they cried out to him
and then he said,
take courage at his eye,
do not be afraid
and came to their assistance.
But it was as though
our Lord had expected them
to know that because
he was in the sea,
he had worked the miracle
of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish
that he was going to take care of them,
that they didn't need to worry
under the distress of the storm
but to understand that
even though they didn't see him,
even though he wasn't immediately present to them,
that he would take care of things.
He wasn't going to work a miracle,
send them off into the sea
and have them drown.
And so as our Lord
came out onto the water,
they saw him walking on the water.
At first they thought he was a ghost
and then finally
our Lord spoke
and came into the boat
and they understood it was him
but they were completely astounded.
It was like they didn't,
you know, this miracle was something
that was completely unexpected
and that's when
St. Mark says
they did not understand
the incident of the loaves.
And this is very much like life
and like the way
that original sin affects all of us,
our darkened will and intellect.
You know, we can have many signs
of divine providence
that assist us to follow the path.
Say, for example,
lead us to follow our vocation
or lead us to make a good confession
or lead us to seek God's grace
in a life of prayer.
Perhaps they are our consolations
or, you know,
or signs somehow
that God is listening to us,
that our prayers are answered.
Things like this.
This leads us, you know,
to God and to grace
and to the sacraments.
And then for one reason or another
our Lord
tarries behind
and doesn't show his signs,
doesn't show his face.
Or in a similar incident
when our Lord was actually
in a boat
while there was a storm,
he slept
while the storm went on.
You know,
and that was another occasion
where you had the apostles,
you know,
knowing who he was
and all the things
that he had done for them
and the miracles
that he had worked
and they were frightened
because he was sleeping
in the boat.
He wasn't awake.
So it wasn't enough
that he was actually there
in the boat with them.
They were actually afraid
because he wasn't awake
and apparently aware
of the,
of the,
of the,
uh,
of the storm
and the danger
that was at hand.
And that,
that is a lack of faith.
And it's a lack of faith
for us too
when sometimes
we doubt God's presence
or his grace
because
things aren't working out
the way we expect them to.
It seems as though
he's sleeping in the boat.
He's not listening
to our prayers.
Um,
he seems far away.
But
this is part and parcel
of,
of the,
um,
of,
of the exercise of faith.
It's what our Lord
expects of us.
He expects us
to cling to his word.
And in the end
that was really what,
what our Lord was trying to do
with his apostles.
He had told,
he,
what,
he's the word of God.
He's the eternal word
of the Father
who became the incarnate word
and he spoke
the truth,
the fullness of truth.
He revealed to them
the mind of God
and,
and he told them
everything
they needed to know.
And yet it wasn't
his words
that they clung to.
It was these other things.
It was
seeing him,
and knowing that
he was present
and having him
work these miracles
in his midst,
in their midst.
These were the things
that they were clinging to.
And of course,
these things were signs as well.
But our Lord
worked these signs
to confirm his words,
to confirm the truth
that he revealed to them
so that when he was
no longer with them,
they would remember
what he had said.
As he promised
that the Holy Spirit
would help them
to remember
what they said.
And of course,
we're here today,
we're here today,
we're here today,
we're here today,
we're here today
at this moment right now
celebrating the liturgy
of the word
because they did remember.
St. Luke,
St. John remembered,
St. Matthew remembered,
and the disciples
such as Mark and Luke
remembered as well
and set these down,
set these words down
under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit.
But it's the word of God,
the truth that he has revealed
in the scriptures
and in the church
that we must cling to,
not because we don't know
not because we always
understand it.
As for example,
many people don't understand
why the church teaches
what it teaches
about contraception.
A lot of people
don't want to understand
so they never make
the effort to understand
but we want to feel
God's presence.
We turn religion
into some kind of
sentimental experience
and we become misguided
because we're not clinging
to the things
that God wants us
to cling to
which is his word,
is his truth,
which he has confirmed
for us
by signs and miracles.
The resurrection of the Lord
for example
and in the presence
of our Lord
in the Eucharist.
But it's his word
he desires us to cling to.
So as we continue
in this holy sacrifice
of the Mass
and prepare to receive
our Lord in the Eucharist,
we can ask for that grace
to know the truth
as it's been presented to us,
to know and to be confirmed
in the signs
that our Lord has given us,
the universal signs
of the sacraments
and the miracles
that our Lord worked
but also those particular signs
in our own life
in which our Lord
has shown his providence
and he has shown it
in each one of our lives
and those things
must be confirmations
of his grace
but we shouldn't expect them
at each and every juncture
of our life
and then get upset
or lose faith
because the Lord
has given us the grace to do that.
The Lord is not giving us
what we want
at any particular moment
but out of fidelity to him
and out of love for him
we must persevere.
We turn to our Blessed Mother
and ask her for this grace,
the grace of a true
and unwavering faith
to know that the Lord's word
lasts forever.
It will never pass away.
We must live it
under the influence of his grace
so that we know
completely the truth
and we know
that our Lord is with us
always until the end of time
and that in each and every moment
even though we may not hear the words
or see a miracle
happening right in front of us
our Lord is telling us
take courage, it is I
do not be afraid.
Thank you now.
Thank you.