The 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Today is Sunday the 20 June, beginning the 12th week of Ordinary Time.

Bless the Lord, my soul, who leads me into life. The most important thing for me to do now, as I enter into prayer, is to let go for a moment, to let go of my own concerns, my own worries and fears and reluctance, and let myself be led by God, trusting that God, who loves me, will lead me into life.

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark.

Mark 4:35-41

Jesus said to the disciples, ‘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 gale 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?’

How do you react to the vision of Jesus here? He’s not scared like the disciples, but calm and in control of the sea and storm – how does this image of Jesus rest with your own idea of what Jesus was like?

How do you react to the events in your own life that scare you as this storm scared the disciples? Do you go to Jesus for help, or do you try to figure things out on your own?

As the passage is read again, try and place yourself into the scene with the disciples in the boat.

How did it feel to be in the boat with the disciples? What thoughts and feelings were stirred within you? Share these with the Lord now, and perhaps ask him to calm any storms in your own life.  

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.