Rough Waters for Faithful Disciples

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Recently, Disney World decided to do away with Splash Mountain, a water ride which followed the cartoon “Song of the South,” due to, shall we say, cultural sensitivities.  The ride has you in a boat that looks like a log, and the end of the ride (which I very much enjoyed) was a 52.5 foot drop stopped by water, which sprayed the water over those in the boat.  There are pictures of people in the ride with their hands up and screaming, like on many other roller coasters.
    Sometimes our life can feel like we’re in a 52.5 foot drop in a boat, and it makes us put our hands up and scream!  No doubt, the Apostles felt something akin to that when they were in the boat with our Lord (who was sleeping), and the storms were creating large waves around them.  They even cried out to the Lord that they were going to die if He didn’t save them.  Christ then commands the storm to quiet down, and returns to normal and calm waters.  The Apostles then make an act of faith in who Christ is.
    No doubt, they were thinking of Psalm 106.  It reads (starting at verse 23):
 

Some…plied their trade on the deep waters.…
He commanded and rouse a storm wind;
it tossed the waves on high.
They rose up to the heavens, sank to the depths;
their hearts trembled at the danger.
They reeled, staggered like drunkards;
their skill was of no avail.
In their distress they cried to the Lord,
who brought them out of their peril;
He hushed the storm to silence,
the waves of the sea were stilled.

As good Jews who would have been used to praying the psalms, no doubt they would have remembered this passage, and sensed that this was no ordinary rabbi, but the God who had the authority to calm the waters.  Perhaps they also thought back to the very beginning of the Book of Genesis, where God ordered the primordial waters of chaos and created all things.  
    In our life Christ sometimes allows storms.  Sometimes He does this as a manifestation (𝜀𝜋𝜄𝜙𝛼𝜈𝜀𝜄𝛼 is the Greek word) of who He is; that He is God.  He also does this as a way to increase our faith in His care for us, and that, no matter how turbulent things may be, He will not abandon us.
    We’re used to hearing stories about this from the ancient martyrs, and even more recent martyrs.  But I know that it can often seem very remote from us, as something that only really special people go through.  But it can happen to even today, and those who suffer for the Gospel and persevered are great role models for us to stay in the boat with our Lord, and trust that He will calm the waters, one way or another.

    My mind turns especially to His Eminence, George Cardinal Pell.  He was Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia, and then became Archbishop of Sydney.  He was named to the College of Cardinals by Pope St. John Paul II in 2003, and participated in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.  Pope Francis chose Cardinal Pell to help him reform the Roman Curia, and named him Prefect for the Secretariat of the Economy, to clean up the finances of the Holy See.
    In 2017, Cardinal Pell was falsely accused of a series of sexual crimes, which he vehemently denied.  Though the first trial ended in a mistrial, and there were faulty evidence and visual aids that would have shown how preposterous the charges were, Cardinal Pell was convicted of 5 counts of abuse against minors in 2018.  He appealed, and the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria rejected the appeals.  Cardinal Pell appealed in 2019 to the High Court of Australia, which was his last shot.  In 2020, the court overturned the conviction because of exculpatory evidence, and Cardinal Pell was acquitted.  However, until his acquittal in April 2020, Cardinal Pell had been required to serve the sentence, much of it in solitary confinement, and had been incarcerated for 404 days.  He was not allowed to celebrate Mass while in prison, and relied on the Divine Office, the Liturgy of the Hours, to keep him connected to the liturgical life of the Church.  George Cardinal Pell died 10 January 2023 after surgery complications.
    Here was a churchman who was respected by numerous pontiffs, who so often stood up for the truth of the Gospel and the teachings of Christ’s Church, and yet still had to withstand violent storms for over a year.  He published his journal that he kept in prison, of how he made it through, and it was due to sticking with Christ.  One might understand how a person who had served Christ and been treated so horribly could have had an excuse (not legitimate, but still, an excuse) to abandon Christ.  But Cardinal Pell didn’t.  He stayed with Christ through it all.  He stayed in the boat with his Savior. 
    Throughout the storms of our life, Christ invites us to stay with Him.  We may worry, we may cry out, but the most important thing to know is that God has us in the palm of His hand.  And if God has us, then nothing can harm our eternal salvation, which is the most important aspect of life.  In contrast to the eternity of life after death, even 100 years is like a minute in a day (if we even make it to 100). 
    What should we do when we are in storms in life?  Certainly pray and continue to communicate with the Savior.  But also, do what St. Paul said in our epistle today, what Cardinal Pell exhibited during his unjust imprisonment: love one another; follow the commandments; love our neighbor as ourselves.  Indeed, Cardinal Pell forgave his accusers and all those who had harmed him.  We prove our love for God, not so much in the easy times, but in the difficult times, and show whether or not we are truly followers of Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is God, for ever and ever.  Amen.