The awesome power of God!
Homily originally presented June 20, 2021
by Monsignor Deering

There’s a TV program that you may be familiar with called “Deadliest Catch”.

It premiered in 2005 and continues in its 14^th season on the Discovery Channel...

 many people say they’re hooked on it.

It’s a Reality TV show that it chronicles the trips and adventures of various ships in a fleet who go out on the high seas off the coast of Alaska to capture King Crab.

As big as those fishing trawlers are, they are often shown being tossed around like a toy by the sea … and their crews have all they can do to keep themselves afloat ...

in the midst of some of the coldest and stormiest waters on earth.

Each show vividly portrays the strength and the power of the sea.

The risk of disaster or death is always there … hence the name “Deadliest Catch!”

Well one thing’s for sure, you’ll never catch me out on the sea. The last thing I want to be doing is to be on a boat out in the ocean ... supposedly having a fun time fishing or just sailing around.     Just leave me on dry land .... where I feel safe!

You know, I enjoy vacationing at the beach ... but I never go in the ocean.

You know why?    Because I’m afraid of it!    It’s too big and powerful for me.

I know I’m not alone.

There are many people today who fear oceans and seas and lakes and rivers.

For those who don’t know how to swim ...

 the ocean would be an envelope of death if they ever fell out of a boat.

For others like me, who know how to swim ...

my experiences have given me a healthy respect for the power of the sea.

This is especially true for those who make their livelihoods fishing on the water.

They come to learn that the ocean is a powerful force outside the control of man;

                                                                             … a potentially deadly force.

In Psalm 107 that we prayed this morning, the Psalmist announced,

“(Those) who sailed the sea in ships, trading on the deep waters,

these saw the works of the Lord and his wonders in the abyss.”

Yes, the Sea is a powerful force of nature that seems to have a mind of its own.

It has claimed the lives of many sailors and soldiers and tourists over the years. Even the supposedly “unsinkable” Titanic was no match for the force of the sea.

And it’s here in the sea that God finds the perfect place to demonstrate His power.

How powerful is God?

He’s way more powerful than the powerful seas.

The sea can make us tremble … but God controls the sea!

We hear about this in our First Reading today from the Book of Job.

This Book is the account of the holy man named Job who God allows to be tested by the devil. Many evils befall Job as he loses all 10 of his children to death, thousands of his animals to theft, and he even loses his health as he ends up

being covered with sores from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet.

Talk about having your faith tested!   Job was beside himself!

But as overwhelmed as he was, he never once cursed God.

No, he never cursed God … but He did try to figure Him out!

For a full 35 chapters of the Book of Job, Job is discussing his many misfortunes

with his three friends … trying hard to figure God out.

Until finally in chapter 38 God speaks to Job and says, “Gird your loins now

like a man.   I will question you and you will tell me the answers.”

“Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.”

And then as we heard in our First Reading today, God asks him,

“Who shut within doors the sea…“(Who said,) thus far shall you come but no farther.”

God is asking Job:  “Who created the seas & who set their bounds, do you know?

God is saying to him … “It was Me!”

Job is overwhelmed with awe as God continues to speak of His Almighty power.

God goes on, “Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning

(or) shown the dawn its place?

Which way to the parting of the winds and where is the abode of the dead?

       Have you an arm like that of God?”

Poor Job can only come back and admit,

“I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.

Therefore I disown what I have said and repent in dust and ashes.”

Our God is all-powerful; He is almighty. There is no arm like the arm of God. Today, we hear of the awesome power of God in three of our readings.

In this First Reading from Job, God declares that it was He

who fashioned the awesome seas and gave them their boundaries.

Are the seas powerful?     Yes!      

Well guess what … God made the seas!       Now that’s power!

Then, Psalm 107 that we prayed, included words of praise to God

for rescuing His people in time of great need.          We heard,

“They cried to the Lord in their distress; from their straits he rescued them,

he hushed the storm to a gentle breeze, and the billows of the sea were stilled.”

And finally in our Gospel, we hear that the Apostles were in a similar great need as a violent squall comes up on the sea such that their boat is filling up with water.

So they wake up Jesus and beg for His help. Whereupon Jesus simply says to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” and immediately the wind and waves fall to a great calm.

The Apostles are filled with great awe as they ask one another,

“Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey?”

The awe that the Apostles formerly had for the mighty sea, they now have for Jesus.

For they saw with their own eyes that Jesus had power over the sea.

Like the Apostles, like Job, like you and me, we look at the immensity of the ocean and we are in awe.   We ask, “Who created this? Who has power over this?”

And Scripture answers us … Almighty God … the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

The Creator of the seas and all that is in them.

We affirm this each time we pray our Profession of Faith, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.”

The world that we see with our eyes is the natural world. When God created the world He put into effect many laws … the laws of nature, the laws of gravity, and the laws of the heavenly bodies. And the power He put in nature is very powerful.

But there’s another whole world that we don’t see with our eyes …

it is the supernatural world … and it is even more powerful!

God is supernatural.    He created all things and has power over all things.

We His creatures do not. So the smartest thing to do is to align ourselves with God

so that we can benefit from His power and His protection.

Are you afraid of the ocean?  Then travel with someone who controls the ocean.

Are you afraid of death?   Then travel with someone who controls death.

In our Second Reading today from St. Paul’s Second letter to the Corinthians ...

he declares that ... “whoever is in Christ is a new creation.”

How important this is! Paul is telling us that when we live in Christ, we benefit from His supernatural power and we are shrouded with His protection.

As we sail through this sea of life, there will be many times where we will experience rough “seas”, times where we’ll be filled with fear and trepidation.

It’s then that we need to realize that Jesus is in the boat with us.

And we need to do exactly what the Apostles did … call out to Jesus for help.

Jesus is God; He was there when the world was made. Everything was made through Him. St. John puts it this way in the opening Prologue of his Gospel:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.”

Jesus is God … He has power over everything, the natural and the supernatural.

And because of His great love for us, we can count on Him using His power to help us.

He will do exactly what He did for the Apostles.

He will calm the storms that rage around us.

You see, Jesus overcame powers way greater than the sea …

He overcame the powers of sin and death. And He can help us to do the same thing.

With Him at our side we too can overcome the powers of sin and death.

That’s why we gather every Sunday … to be reminded that He’s in the boat with us and to tap into His supernatural power that we receive from Him in the Eucharist.

Jesus has the power to do anything and everything.

We know who has the power and we know that He’s in the boat with us!

So, let’s make sure that we live in Jesus ... and Jesus lives in us.

Let’s call upon Him always ... but especially in times of need.

He will always be there to calm the storms of our lives

and guide us to the safe shores of the Heavenly Kingdom.