REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD – 01/05/22 (Wednesday After Epiphany)

Mark 6:50-52

50 for they all saw Him, and were terrified. But immediately He spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." 51 And He got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

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Blessed Wednesday after the Epiphany! Our God is always faithful to us. However, we may not be always faithful to Him, and we can see this in the examples of His disciples. Jesus left the disciples to pray alone. The disciples went to the sea, but they were terrified of the strong waves. Jesus came to save them as He walked on the waters. The winds and the sea became peaceful, but this event showed that the disciples did not learn from the miracle of feeding the 5,000. The reason why they were anxious was because they did not reflect on their mistakes when they were with the 5,000 men, and they did not trust the Lord. 

To summarize the gospel reading yesterday, the disciples wanted to cast the people away because they knew it was humanly impossible to feed them with five bread and two fish. When they focused on the problem, they did not acknowledge the divinity of Jesus, and they lacked trust in Him. In the same way, when they thought it was humanly impossible to be saved from strong waves, they fell to the trap of despair. We can also see this in our own lives. Many of us experience strong waves in our lives which represent our difficulties and struggles. This may include a sin, or this can be any problem in our family, jobs, etc. After falling to darkness, by God's grace, we prayed to Him and found peace. However, what do we do afterwards? Even after receiving the peace from Christ, we may be overconfident thinking that we already know what to do about our problems. As such, when a new difficulty arises, some of us will fall and commit the same mistakes that we did in the past. When we do not ponder upon the events of our lives with God, we will fall to anxiety, fear and despair.

Jesus is calling us pray and seek His guidance as we examine our lives. He wants us to know, by His grace, our tendencies and temptations we easily fall into. By doing this, when our faith is challenged, we are more prepared by the grace of God. At the first moment of temptation, let's not depend on our own strength, but let us always seek God first in prayer. This is an act of trust that is pleasing to Him. He will do the impossible, and when He sees our humility, He will grant us peace amidst the strong surges in life. We will be true witnesses of the gospel if we trust that Jesus is always with us in our journey to heaven. 

Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic