 |
||||||
Jesus
said to them, “Let us
cross to the other side.” Leaving the
crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And
other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves
were
breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus
was in the stern, asleep on a
cushion. They woke him and said to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He
woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the
sea, “Quiet, be still!” The wind ceased
and there was great calm. Then he asked
them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not
yet have faith?” They were filled with
great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even
wind and sea
obey?”
|
||||||
The group Evanescence's
song "My Immortal" is one of the most beautiful songs in recent times
and also is a song of intense pain. "These
wounds won’t seem to heal,” they sing. “This
pain is just too real, there’s just too much that time cannot
erase.” In the past, the lady in the
song has comforted the man, and in the process she has given everything
to
him. “Now,” she sings, “I’m bound by the
life you left behind.” The man has left,
and she is totally devastated.
|
||||||
|
A problem that human
beings experience is the feeling
of terror. Sometimes it passes quickly,
and is usually forgotten. At other times
it lingers and we cry out, “Why me?” It
is the lingering pain that devastates us, the pain of abandonment and
loneliness and betrayal. Such pain is
fearful because it seems to have no end to it, nothing to resolve it;
there
seems to be no way out. It is pain and
fear not unlike the Apostles who were being tossed and turned in the
middle of
a fierce storm, and who cry out “We are perishing!”
Evanescence’s song “My Immortal” captures such pain and fear. The fact is that every person who has ever felt some form of a breakup of a relationship, be it romantic or otherwise, will identify with the feeling. Those who feel such pain must address the problem. If they don’t, they suffer the possibility of a wounded future and scarred relationships. They have to find some answer to the pain, to the fear. A lesson can be learned from the Apostles in the Gospel story—they asked for help. A person who is involved with an intense painful situation must reach out to someone, to a parent, to a friend, to a confidant, to someone who will listen to the cry for help. People who can truly share with another will usually experience the relief they need. A second thing that the Apostles did was to cry out to Jesus for help. Such is the advantage of the believer. The person who has accepted the belief that God has spoken through his Son Jesus understands that there is an answer to the intense prayer of someone in the throes of pain. Just knowing that Jesus can calm every storm can be enough as we speak to him in prayer. |
||||||
|
THOUGHT
In your opinion, what
are the
most painful situations people experience as they grow?
PRAYER Good and gracious God, it is an
imperfect world in which we live, and therefore there will be pain and
fear. Give us the grace to ask for help
when we need it, both from others on this earth and from your Son in
prayer. Be with us, we pray.
|
||||||
©2007 Capuchin
Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |