Today’s gospel episode offers us a vivid image of the Church. The sea represents the world and its instability, while the storm depicts every kind of adversity and oppression which man undergoes in life. The boat of Peter symbolizes the Church built by Christ and steered by the apostles.
While Jesus is alone praying on the mountain, the apostles are in a boat, mercilessly tossed by the waves and beaten by the wind. Seeing the apostles’ condition, Jesus comes down from the mountain and joins them. As he walks on the waters, he tells them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” After he gets in the boat with Peter, the wind dies down.
At times we too feel alone and abandoned by God, but God is Emmanuel. He is with us. Even from afar he never loses sight of us. And true to his name (Jesus), he comes to saves us as he saves Peter and the apostles from the storm.
Reflecting on today’s gospel, I can’t help but recall the extraordinary experience of the Way of the Cross during the recent World Youth Day in Lisbon. Besides its incontestable artistic merits (superb orchestra and choir, exquisite choreography, unique backdrop, original concept…), the Way of the Cross of WYD Lisbon was singularly rich and powerful in its content and message.
The fourteen stations of the Cross represented fourteen vulnerabilities and wounds of the youth today, such as loneliness, mental health, addiction, violence, unemployment, and illusions of social media among others. These frailties were weaved into prayers, reflections, testimonies, hymns, and interpretative dances which tugged the hearts of the more than half a million participants and moved many of them to tears (including us, bishops).
At the start of the Via Crucis, the Pope put the congregation into a prayerful mode by saying, “Today you will walk with Jesus. Jesus is the Way and we will walk with him, because he himself undertook the journey… No one has greater love than those who give their lives… which is why, when we look at the Crucified Christ, though it be painful and difficult, we see the beauty of the love that gives its life for each one of us.”
And echoing the words of Jesus in today’s gospel, the Pope closes by saying, “Do not be afraid,” – because Jesus walks with you.
I recall another World Youth Day experience which was equally powerful and reassuring especially in times when we are battered and seemingly beaten by the storms of life. At the Vigil of the World Youth Day 2011 held in Madrid, more than a million young people gathered on the grounds of Cuatro Vientos Airbase. Before the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for the Holy Hour Service, an unexpected thunderstorm followed a heavy downpour suddenly broke which lasted for about fifteen minutes. We were almost a thousand bishops on the stage, and we found ourselves soaked in our ecclesiastical garb and stuck on our seats because there was no place to go for shelter.
Pope Benedict XVI sat at the center of the stage. We could see his assistant approaching him now and then, inviting him to take refuge at the back of the stage. He did not move and stayed on totally drenched until the rain stopped.
When the storm finally passed, the assistant approached once again to hand him his prepared address. Putting the paper aside, he spoke extemporaneously from his heart. Allow me to paraphrase his message from what I remember that night.
“Dear young people. I congratulate you for your courage to stay through the storm, and I thank you for your example. Remember, there will more storms you will encounter in life which will be much stronger. Remain strong yourself. And for this reason, I now ask you to be quiet as we begin our adoration of the Holy Eucharist and ask for that strength we need which alone can come from him.”
What followed was an hour of total silence broken only by intermittent communal praying and singing of hymns.