"In the evening" (Mk 4:35). Thus begins the Gospel Gospel we have just heard. For some weeks now it seems that everything has become darkened. Dense darkness has covered our squares, streets and cities; they have been taking over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a desolating emptiness that paralyzes everything in its path. in the air, it is felt in gestures, it is said in looks. We find ourselves frightened and lost. Like the disciples in the Gospel, we were surprised by an unexpected and furious storm. unexpected and furious storm. We realized that we were in the same boat, all of us fragile and boat, all fragile and disoriented; but, at the same time, important and necessary, all called to row together, all necessary, all called to row together, all in need of mutual comfort. each other. We are all in this boat. Like those disciples, who speak with one voice and in anguish they say: "we perish" (cf. v. 38), we too discover that we cannot go on our own, but only together. on our own, but only together.
It is easy to identify It is easy to identify with this story; what is difficult is to understand Jesus' attitude. While the disciples, logically, were alarmed and desperate, He remained in the stern, in the part of the boat that sinks first. remained in the stern, in the part of the boat that sinks first. Y, what does He do? In spite of the hustle and bustle, he slept peacefully, trusting in the Father - it is the only time in the Gospel that Jesus appears sleeping. After he was awakened and the wind and the waters were calmed, he addressed the disciples with a reproachful tone: "I am not the Father," he said. with a tone of reproach: "Why are you afraid? Are you still without faith?" (v. 40)
Let us try In what does the lack of faith of the disciples consist that is opposed to the trust of Jesus? Jesus' confidence? They had not ceased to believe in Him; in fact, they invoked Him. in fact, they invoked him. But let us see how they invoked him: "Master, don't you mind if we perish." (v. 38). You don't They thought that Jesus was disinterested in them, that he did not pay attention to them. attention. Among us, in our families, what hurts the most is when we hear it said we hear people say"Don't you care about me? care about me?" It is a phrase that hurts and unleashes storms in the heart. It must have shaken Jesus too, because He cares more about us than anyone else. From invoked, he saves his distrustful disciples.
The unmasks our vulnerability and exposes those false and superfluous assurances with which we had built our and superfluous securities with which we had built our agendas, our projects, routines and priorities. It shows us how we had left what nourishes, sustains and gives strength to our life and to our community. our life and our community. The storm exposes all our attempts to box in and forget what nourishes, sustains and gives strength to our life and our community. to box up and forget what nourished the soul of our peoples; all those attempts to anesthetize with attempts to anesthetize with seeming routines "saviors", unable to appeal to our roots and evoke the memory of our elders, depriving us of the memory of our elders, thus depriving us of the immunity needed to face adversity. to face adversity.
With the storm, the make-up of those stereotypes with which we used to with which we used to disguise our always pretentious egos of wanting to appear; and it and exposed, once again, that (blessed) common belonging from which we cannot and do not want to evade; that of which we cannot and do not want to evade; that belonging of brothers and sisters.
"Why are you afraid, do you not yet have faith?". Lord, this evening your Word challenges us all. In our world world, which you love more than us, we have advanced rapidly, feeling strong and capable of everything. strong and capable of everything. Greedy for profit, we have allowed ourselves to be absorbed by material things by the material and upset by haste. We have not stopped at your We have not awakened to your calls, we have not awakened to the wars and injustices of the world, we have not listened to the cry of the poor. We have not listened to the cry of the poor and of our gravely ill planet. We have continued unperturbed, thinking to keep ourselves always healthy in a sick world. sick world. Now, as we stand on troubled seas, we beseech you: "Wake up, Lord."
"Why are you afraid, do you not yet have faith?". Lord, you address to us a call, a call to faith. It is not so much to believe that You exist, but to go to you and to trust in you. In this Lent your call resounds urgent: "Turn to me with all your heart. with all your heart." (Joel 2:12). You call us to take this time of trial as a time of choice. It is not the time of your judgment, but of our judgment. our judgment: the time to choose between what really counts and what passes, to separate what is necessary from what is not. to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is the time to reestablish the direction of life towards you, Lord, and towards others. And we can and we can look at so many fellow travelers who are exemplary, because, in the face of fear, they have reacted by giving their lives. have reacted by giving their own lives. It is the working force of the Spirit poured out and embodied in courageous and generous self-giving. It is the life of the Spirit capable of to rescue, to value and to show how our lives are woven and sustained by people who are usually forgotten, who do not appear on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, nor on the and magazine covers, nor on the big catwalks of the latest show, but but, undoubtedly, they are writing today the decisive events of our history: doctors, doctors of the decisive events in our history: doctors, nurses, and nursemaids, in charge of nurses, supermarket stocking shelves, cleaners, caregivers, transporters, security forces, volunteers, priests, nuns and so many more, priests, nuns and so many others who understood that no one is saved alone. saved alone. In the face of suffering, where the true development of our peoples is measured, we have In the face of suffering, where the true development of our peoples is measured, we discover and experience the priestly prayer of Jesus: "May they all be one." (Jn 17:21). How many people every day show patience and instill hope, taking care not to sow panic but co-responsibility. sow panic, but rather co-responsibility. How many fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, teachers how many fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, teachers show our children, with small and daily gestures, how to face and go through a crisis, readapting routines, raising looks and encouraging prayer. encouraging prayer. How many people pray, offer and intercede for the good of all. for the good of all. Prayer and silent service are our winning weapons.
"Why are you afraid, do you not yet have faith?". The beginning of faith is to know that we need salvation. We are not self-sufficient; alone, alone, we sink. We need the Lord as the ancient sailors of old the stars. Let us invite Jesus into the boat of our life. Let us give him our fears, so that he may overcome them. Like the disciples disciples, we will experience that, with Him on board, we will not be shipwrecked. For this God's strength is to turn everything that happens to us, even the bad, into something good. He brings serenity in our storms, because with God life never dies. dies.
The Lord challenges us and, in the midst of our storm, invites us to awaken and activate that solidarity and hope storm, he invites us to wake up and to activate that solidarity and hope capable of giving solidity, containment and meaning to these times solidity, containment and meaning to these times when everything seems to be shipwrecked. The Lord awakens to awaken and enliven our Easter faith. We have an anchor: in his Cross we have been saved. We have a rudder: on his Cross we have been rescued. rescued. We have a hope: in his Cross we have been healed and embraced so that nothing and nothing can separate us from his redeeming love. In the midst of isolation where we are suffering the lack of affection and encounters, experiencing the lack of so many things, let us listen once more to the proclamation that saves us: he is risen that saves us: he is risen and lives at our side. The Lord challenges us us from his Cross to rediscover the life that awaits us, to look at those who call us, to empower, to recognize, to recognize to strengthen, recognize and encourage the grace that dwells in us. No let us not extinguish the smoldering flame (cf. Is 42:3), which never grows sick, and let us let us allow it to rekindle hope.
To embrace his Cross is to be encouraged to embrace all the adversities of the present time, abandoning for a moment our eagerness for omnipotence and possession in order to make room for the creativity space to the creativity that only the Spirit is capable of arousing. It is to be encouraged to motivate spaces where everyone can feel called and to allow new forms of hospitality, fraternity and of hospitality, fraternity and solidarity. In his Cross we have been saved in order to welcome hope and let it be the one who strengthens and sustains all the and sustain all possible measures and ways that help us to take care of ourselves and to take care of others. care. Embrace the Lord to embrace hope. This is the strength of faith, which frees from fear and gives hope.
"Why are you afraid, do you not yet have faith?". Dear brothers and sisters: From this place, which narrates the stony faith of Peter, this afternoon I would like to entrust all of you to the Lord Peter, this evening I would like to entrust you all to the Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady, health of his people, star of the stormy sea. intercession of the Virgin Mary, health of her people, star of the stormy sea. From this colonnade that embraces Rome and the world, may she descend upon you, like a consoling embrace, like a consoling embrace, may God's blessing descend upon you. Lord, bless the world, give health to bodies and comfort hearts. You ask us not to be afraid. But our faith is weak and we are afraid. But you, Lord, do not abandon us to the mercy of the storm. at the mercy of the storm. You repeat again: "No be afraid". (Mt 28:5). And we, together with Peter, "We unload all our burden on you, because you take care of us"(cf. 1 Pet 5:7).
