Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

 Lectionary: 280

My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

During troubled times -- which is most of the time -- the faithful listen for the Word of God. It comes to us as to a child at night when a father says, "I am here; I am not going away; you are mine; no one will harm you."

His voice speaks with authority and we welcome that authority. I think of Scout as she and her father Atticus watched their home burn. "It's not time to worry yet." he said. And so she didn't. 

Hearing that word and realizing how anxious we remain, we must turn inward and ask, "Where does that anxiety come from?" We may need some counseling or spiritual direction. (I've had plenty of both.) And then, perhaps after discovering its source, we must turn again to prayer and decide to trust in God. 

Gregory Peck and Mary Badham
in the 1962 film version of
To Kill a Mockingbird.

It's a decision we make, and it might feel like that of Saint Peter when he got out of the boat and walked on water. He was as surprised as anyone when one step followed another and he remained above the violent currents that raged beneath him. So long as he kept his eye on the Lord he did just fine. And when he failed, the Lord asked him, perhaps with a knowing smile, "Why did you doubt?"  

We too must walk on water in simple obedience to the Lord's command. When he says, "Come!" we do it -- again and again and again. And we learn to do it. We learn to trust our instincts because they are formed and disciplined by the Holy Spirit. We learn to trust our Catholic faith despite the controversies that divide some members against others, and even separate bishops from the Pope. We learn that it's okay when we don't know how this trouble will end. In fact, it will never end until the Lord himself returns on that Great and Glorious Day.

Faith heals our chronic anxieties along with a host of other ills. Seeing the end of modernity, nations, and the binding force of religion, we turn our gaze back to the Lord who comes for us: 

The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid.

But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”

They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading. (John 6:18-21)