This weekend we hear the familiar story of Jesus in the boat with the disciples and a big storm descended, making their boat rock big time. The disciples, many of them experienced fishermen, were paralyzed with fear and woke Jesus up to “save them.” Of course, He did save them and then asked them to evaluate their faith. As we move from day to day, we are often challenged with “storms” of one sort or another. Some we weather well and others may tear us apart. The readings from this weekend’s liturgy should speak to us about this human experience. The role of God in calming the “storms of life” both in the history of the Church and in our personal lives is the central theme of the readings for this weekend which we might want to call Storm Sunday! In the first reading, God addresses Job for the first time…Job’s life was devastated by “storms” of illness, the deaths of his dear ones and the total loss of his possessions. God reminds Job that HE is in control. We also hear the storm theme in the psalm this weekend.. It tells us how the Lord saves the sailors caught up in the high waves of a storm by “hushing the storm to a gentle breeze.” In the second reading, Paul, who definitely "rode the storm" of rejection from his former friends. He also experienced storms of violent hostility from the Jews who refused to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah. So Paul explains in the second reading that Jesus died for us to give us an eternal life of peace (NO storms!). All we need to do to receive this gift, is respond to God’s love! Back to the Holy Gospel…Mark assures us that nothing can harm us as long as the risen Lord is with us. He describes how, by a single commanding word, Jesus stills a storm on the Sea of Galilee, returns the sea to its natural order and saves his followers from drowning. The incident reminds us to keep Jesus in our “life’s boat” and to always seek His help in the storms of life. If only we could hear this message…AND LIVE IT!!! In the Gardiner Museum in Boston there is a painting by Rembrandt entitled "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee." It is Rembrandt's interpretation of this scene. It shows panic etched on the faces of the disciples, as their small vessel is being raised up on a high wave, about to be crashed down. Two of the disciples are attempting to rouse Jesus who is asleep in the stern of the boat. But if you look more closely, you will discover that there is something that is not quite right. There are too many people in the picture. So you count them. There are fourteen. There should only be thirteen (twelve disciples and Jesus). But instead there are fourteen. It is then that you notice that one of the men in the boat is Rembrandt. He has painted himself into the picture. He has placed himself in the same boat. This is precisely what we should do. It is the way that we are supposed to interpret this passage. We are in the boat with Jesus, faithful but frightened. Either we would like to believe that storms will never strike us or that faith will never fail us. GOSPEL HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK: How strong is your faith in Jesus to bring you through the storms of life?