“Your sea, O God, is so great, and my boat is so small.” President John F. Kennedy kept an inscribed wood carving with this old Breton prayer on his desk in the Oval Office. It was given to him by Admiral Hyman Rickover who typically gave it to new submarine captains as they began their assignment. The president quoted it when he dedicated the East Coast Memorial to the Missing at Sea on May 23, 1963.
We have all lived through storms both actual storms that make you feel the world is coming to an end and the figurative storms of life when we feel overcome by darkness and terror and we seem to be sinking and drowning. There have been times when we have all felt that the waves of life were just going to overpower and sink us.
Just like our personal lives the same feelings can arise for communities, parishes, the archdiocese and even the Church. It can seem, at times, like the storms that beat against us, the winds that prevent us from moving forward, the waves that threaten to sink us are just too powerful and we are going to falter and sink into oblivion. And yet, after all the storms of history the Church is still here. In a storm the crew look to the captain and our captain is Jesus.
In Jesus we find our direction, our hope, our strength, our captain. In Jesus we find the one who calms storms, who settles the waves, and silences the wind. Weather in the Church, archdiocese, our parish, our homes, and especially in our own hearts, it is His voice that we should listen for because His voice calms the storms and silences the wind. Even more, His voice gives us direction, shows us the way, and provide the vision for our future.
In our archdiocese, in our family of parishes, and in our communities, we are in the midst of a process carefully trying to discern the voice of the Lord Jesus as we look to our future. I realize that there are many mixed emotions as we move forward, anxiety, fear, impatience, excitement, I’m sure we could name the whole range of responses to what is happening in our parishes. At the same time there is tremendous energy and goodwill exhibited in the process and that is surely a sign of the movement of the Holy Spirit.
In the midst of the huge and expansive sea the sailors keep their eyes fixed on the heavens and the stars show them the way. Even in the darkness there is light. Jesus is our light, and we need to keep our eyes, our gaze, our vision fixed on Him if we are to find our course. After all, He is “the Way.” So, I’m asking you now to pray to the Lord, to send His Holy Spirit among us, to renew us and to establish among us the community He desires us to be. Please pray every day for the vision to build a lasting, vibrant, faithful, and exciting community of faith. Ask God to give us the courage not to do our will but to do God’s will. Whatever that might be, wherever that might lead, whatever sacrifice that might require.
Thank you again for all your do to build God’s Kingdom here in our communities. It is good to remember that while the sea can suddenly produce a storm, winds, and gales, the sea is also full of all kinds and variety of life, and Jesus loved to be on and near the sea. The sea held no fear for Him, and it shouldn’t hold any fear for us as Jesus is master of the sea and all it contains.