Christ walks across the water of the lake to the disciples' boat, which is being beaten by the waves. After rescuing Peter, who goes out to meet him and sinks, Jesus enters the boat, stills the storm and guides the ship to shore.
The imagery is powerful. Jesus, appearing in the midst of the turbulent water in the darkness of the 4th Watch. So too is the symbol. The ship of the church, the ark of salvation, is beaten by waves of disbelief, iniquity, and hate only to rescued by Christ.
This is true in every age, not least our own, but consider. As in the miracle, Christ saves his church. For example, he raises up El Cid and Charles Martel, and the False Prophet is driven from Spain and France. The Jihad is routed by Sobieski in 1683 and Vienna saved, the evil, satanic Nazis are utterly defeated and the Iron Curtain blown away like so much noxious smoke.
Point being, as surely as he came to the beleaguered disciples in the midst of the lake, Christ saves his Mystical Body from the tempest which rages against her. He will save the church in our age too if we remain faithful, even desperately so, and cry out with Peter, "Lord, save me!" That must be our prayer.
There, in the act of faith, shouting out in the darkness, against all the odds, lies the path to paradise. Christ catches Peter by the hand, restores him to the safety of the boat, and in the end, to Paradise itself, the far shore of the lake.
So take heart. Our lord and Savior is infinitely more powerful than the iniquity which rages against his Body the church and against us, his faithful.
Sermon over,
LSP
