Job 38: 1, 8-11 Here I have set the boundaries of the sea

Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting

2 Corinthians 5: 14-17 All things are made new

Mark 4: 35-41 Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.

“Who can this be, even the wind and the sea obey him?”  

In the light of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter on Global Warming and the Environment this week, we could ask the same question of ourselves and our leaders. We seem to have imagined that we were in charge of the world of nature, given that Genesis invited us to have dominion over all creatures. Pope Francs’ words this week indicate that we have taken the dominion to levels never anticipated, and that our dominion of creation is now the cause of its progressive destruction.

We can hold this thought and apply it to the leaders of industry and governments whose policies and profit-at-all-cost practices have rendered it necessary for the Pope to write such a document. 

We could also question ourselves and the way in which we treat the world around us.  

We still consume like there is no tomorrow, and we consume to the point that may mean there will be no tomorrow within a few short generations. We waste as much food as we consume and many of us leave the job of cleaning up after ourselves to someone else. 

The storm on the Sea of Galilee was a sudden experience of danger for the disciples. 

The storm that our mother the earth is now experiencing, while it includes an increase in cataclysmic weather events, is the result of several centuries of industrial and economic development, supported by the politics of the day. 

In this process, almost imperceptibly, the earth has started show the signs of strain as temperatures and sea levels rise, as considerable numbers of living species of flora and fauna become extinct. 

Pope Francis details some of these developments and points especially to our use of fossil fuels as a most significant contributor to this gathering storm. 

He also cites our propensity for short term political gain as governments, including our own, wriggle and squirm as they try to avoid facing up to the challenges that the damage to the environment presents to us.

Both the natural and the human environment feel the damage brought about by policies and practices that put profit ahead of any other consideration. 

Each of us has our own area of influence.  For some of us it might be our own household use of energy, food consumption, clothing and so on.  For some of us we may have some influence through a neighbourhood group.  For some the local Council, for some State of Federal Government.

For most of us we may imagine our influence doesn’t stretch very far but that may not necessarily be true.

Bishop Terry Brady in his homily to our youngsters lining up for Confirmation this week, suggested that all of us together, in order to make Jesus known and loved, could raise our voices in areas where it matters.  He noted that letters from Bishops, “if we’re honest don’t go that far”, and that they will not be heard as widely or effectively as our voices all raised together. 

The trouble is often enough, that we can’t all agree on what’s important and what’s not, influenced as we are by the economy and politics of the day, and our own security in relation to them.

We don’t want any storms to disturb our boat-trip and if there are storms elsewhere, we’d prefer to keep them out of sight. Our own need for self-protection and our obligations regarding other needs beyond our immediate world struggle, to find their balance. 

Pope Francis in his letter, is urging us to re-balance our own lives so that the life of our world might find its proper balance too.

The disciples in the boat were alarmed and fearful for their lives because Jesus was asleep through the height of the storm. When he woke up and addressed the situation, calm and good order was restored. The disciples were amazed at the result!

In our turn, we are the voice of Jesus, and for too many in the world, this voice that should mean hope, survival and more, dignity and freedom, seems to be silent, asleep, while the storms of poverty, war, displacement, the degradation of the environment, surround them.

Let’s read the Pope’s words carefully and take them to heart. Let’s then be bold enough to speak those words in whatever place and time that we can find. 

You see, our salvation is not just about our little souls getting themselves to heaven.  Our salvation is about the coming of the Kingdom of God. This coming Kingdom while it includes each one of us, also includes the whole of creation.   

St Paul reminds us elsewhere that Jesus is the first born, not of a bunch of souls, not of a church, not of a nation, not just of the human family, but Jesus, Paul tells us, is the first born of all creation. 

We pray that each of us plays our part in the coming to be of God’s Loving plan, and that we use our own unique gifts of intelligence, imagination and freedom for this universal saving purpose.

In conclusion, we re-visit the words of our Psalm today: and let’s listen prayerfully to the words in the light of our reflection just now:

Some sailed to the sea in ships to trade on the mighty waters.                       These men have seen the Lord’s deeds, the wonders he does in the deep.

For he spoke, he summoned the gale, tossing the waves of the sea up to heaven and back into the deep; their soul melted away in their distress.

Then they cried to the Lord in their need and he rescued them from their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper: all the saves of the sea were hushed.

They rejoiced because of the calm and he led them to the haven they desired. Let them thank the Lord for his love, the wonders he does for all peoples and all creation. (Psalm 106)

Ezekiel 17: 22-24 I have made the small tree great

Lord it is good to give thanks to you

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 Whether we are living in the body or exiled from it, we are intent on pleasing the Lord.

Mark 4: 26-44 The mustard seed, the smallest of all the seeds, grows into the biggest shrub of all.

This is what the Kingdom of God is like: The sower went out to sow some seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing: how, he does not know. Of its own accord the lad produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest is come.

For so many of us, our lives are so busy, so many deadlines and commitments to meet, so many tasks to be completed each day.  Our lives can easily be reduced to doing, achieving, producing.  Pleasing others through our achievements can become our driving force. 

Measuring our well-being and sense of self by economic outcomes as we know, sells our self very short. It’s impossible to recognise ourselves as God’s masterpiece, as Paul calls us, if our predominant point of reference is the size of our bank balance, our house or our car!

Likewise a government which focuses on economics as its primary task, will sell its people short in the same way that we can do to ourselves. 

Even religious people get caught up in the same kind of economy by imagining that if they multiply the prayers they say, the religious events they attend and the number of Saints they invoke, they will somehow strike a good bargain with God. 

We create the illusion that we have to do it all. In this mode, we, rather than God become the centre of our own little universe. We close our borders, personal, family, national to others as we focus on our own security, our own progress, our own salvation.  

Then Love is born among us and turns our world on its head. Love breaks through our borders, our barriers, our preoccupations with ourselves and our performances.  Our focus becomes someone else.  

Suddenly we are aware of our own barren ground, the soil that has been waiting for the seeds of love to be sown.  Somehow, love starts to grow all by itself and we are astonished at how differently the world appears. 

Now we are no longer the centre of things, we can see more clearly. 

The birth of a baby, the gift of married love that grows in surprising ways, the cry of a sister or brother in need finally reaches our heart and it is as if we are born again!

The earth has shifted and our centre is no longer where it was.  All the important things, deadlines, productivity, future planning, economic success and its trappings, all have to make way when love really hits town. 

Love you see, asks nothing of us but is pure gift. Our economic, busy self has real trouble dealing with that! 

Love, while asking nothing of us, confronts us with the deepest possible questions about ourselves, about human relationships, about the ultimate meaning of life. 

It’s as if love draws us into herself and says “Come and see what I’d like  to create with you: a beautiful faithful marriage, a brand-new child, a lifetime of memories that will never fade because you have lived them and grown them in times of joy and in times of suffering.”

“Come and look beyond where you have dared look before and listen, really listen to the cry of the person seeking refuge here, to the deep pain of one wounded by the abuse of a person she or he once trusted, the plaintive yearning of one who feels beyond love’s embrace because of personal or family history, because of marriage break-down, because of sexual orientation.”

For love to grow, we need now and then to clear the land, let it lie fallow, and then wait for the seed to be sown, knowing that we need to wait and rely on the sower to sow in the sower’s own good time. 

Fallow time is not the easiest place to be.  Everyone else seems to be doing so well and here am I struggling to hold my head up. I look silly.  I feel the odd one out. I’ve got nothing to show for all my efforts. Nothing seems to be happening!

Fallow time comes to us all and without it the soil of our hearts will not be ready for the arrival of love’s seed.

There is no point in being impatient and trying to hurry the sower along. The seeds of love will be sown when the time is right, when love decides, when the right circumstances for good growth are at hand. 

So today, whether your crops are well developed, whether they are newly planted, whether your land simply lies fallow right now, know that love will find you, in love’s good time.

Sit quietly during our Mass now and recognise that the work of our salvation is in Love’s hands, in God’s hands, the sower who knows well when our waiting time will be done. 

We pray a blessing today on all your marriages, past, present and in preparation. We pray a blessing on the marriages that have birthed us, nurtured us and inspired us. 

As we appreciate the commitment of you, our married brothers and sisters, we look to you to show us the face of Jesus as you deepen your love for one another and bless the rest of us with the sacrament of your marriage as only married people can. As we bless you today, we look for the blessing that you bring to us and thank you for the grace of the love you sow among us.  

The sower went out to sow some seed on the land…………