DIRECTOR'S TAKE

STORM JAR

Fr. Johnny C. Go, S.J., School Director

Posted Friday, 8-Aug-2005 7:20 AM

The following homily was delivered by Fr. Johnny Go at Mary the Queen Parish on 7 August 2005 .

      My friend Lydia makes pottery as a hobby, and one Christmas she gave me something that she herself had made. At first I couldn’t tell what it was: To me it looked initially like a bell, but it turned out to be some kind of jar. It had the words “storm jar” embossed on it, and it came complete with carvings of clouds, rain, and lightning. I had no idea what a storm jar was, but fortunately an accompanying note provided the explanation. It turns out that a storm jar was simply a container for things that you might need during a storm. And true enough, inside the jar I found a flashlight, some candles, matches, and other things that would come in handy if the lights went out. You could even turn the lid upside down to transform it conveniently into a candleholder.

      I mention Lydia ’s storm jar because today’s Gospel story made me think of it. We could say that the entire story is like a storm jar that the Lord is asking to save for a rainy day. Just like a storm jar, the Gospel has certain things that might just come in handy when we encounter a storm. Of course I’m not talking about a physical or natural storm. Rather I’m referring to storms that we all occasionally encounter in life: I’m talking about seasons in our lives when things seem to have gone wrong, when we experience major problems and crises, when our world feels like it’s been turned upside down, or for whatever reason or cause, when we feel like we’re walking among ruins. If you’ve lived long enough, I’m sure you’ve had some experience of the storm that I’m talking about.

      Like a storm jar, today’s Gospel story offers us three things that we may find useful when things get rough.

      The first thing that the Lord offers us is courage. In the Gospel, the disciples are out at sea when they encounter a sudden storm. They are frightened by the strong wind and waves. To top it all, from a distance, they see the Lord walking on the water. They mistake him for a ghost, and naturally their fear increases. And then at once, we are told, the Lord says: “Take courage; do not be afraid!”

      When storms hit our lives, we feel like we’ve lost control and we often don’t understand what’s happening to us, so our first and natural reaction in such a situation is fear. But the Lord understands that fear can sometimes overwhelm us and even paralyze us. What the Lord is telling us is that even if we don’t have control of the situation, even if we don’t understand what’s going on, we must take courage and hang on. Courage, the Lord seems to be saying, is a decision that we have to make.

      I have a friend who gave me a refrigerator magnet that says, “If you’re going through hell, just keep going.” That’s a pretty valuable piece of advice. Sometimes all you can do—and all you need to do—is not to give up, to “keep going,” and to keep going, we need this first thing that the Lord’s storm jar offers us: Courage.

      The second thing that we might find handy when we’re facing trouble is the Lord’s presence. When our Lord tells the disciples to take courage, he also tells them, “It is I!” There in the midst of the storm, he assures them of his presence. But also, by walking on the water, he shows them not only his presence, but also his power over wind and sea.

      In the same way, whenever we experience storms in our lives, the Lord wants us to know that appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, he is nearer than ever, and that if we seek him, we will find him not far away, but in the very eye of our storms. Moreover, he wants to remind us that if we try, we too can see him walking over our turbulent lives, prevailing over our storms. This is the second gift that he reserves for us for turbulent times: an assurance of his presence and power.

      Finally, a third item that we can find in the Lord’s storm jar is faith. In the Gospel story, the Lord commands Peter to approach him by walking on water—and Peter obeys and he does so in faith because it doesn’t make sense for him to walk on water! Of course Peter’s faith turns out to be inadequate because he is eventually distracted and frightened by the wind and waves, and begins to sink, but the Lord quickly saves him from drowning.

      In troubled times, faith means simply keeping our eyes on the Lord, and not allowing ourselves to be too distracted by our troubles. When we’re going through a crisis, we probably don’t feel like doing the usual ordinary things that we’re expected to do as Christians—like going to Sunday Mass, praying, doing good for others. We may not even understand why we have to do that when we have so much trouble of our own. But faithfulness to the Lord’s commands, living each day the right way one day at a time—this will go a long way in helping us survive our storm.

      Now, let’s go back to my friend who gave me the storm jar. Yesterday I visited her to say Mass for her father, who is dying of cancer. Lately, her family has been facing many storms—far too many storms, I think, for one family to face in such a short period of time. Two years ago she lost her mother to cancer. Since last October, she herself has had a painful bout with cancer, going through full cycles of chemotherapy and radiation. Likewise, her sister-in-law has been diagnosed with cancer.

      Yesterday she was experiencing some pain on her side. But as we sat chatting before the Mass, I couldn’t help but marvel at her resilience and especially her sense of humor. I thought to myself: “Here is one woman who has helped herself to the Lord’s storm jar, and who has been able to draw from it the much-needed gifts of courage, assurance, and faith.”

      Should we experience storms in our lives, let us not forget the storm jar that the Lord has prepared for us. Let us remember and believe: Only the Lord can walk over our turbulent waters. Only he can save us from drowning. And only he can still our storms.

JOHNNY C. GO, SJ

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