Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 8, 2020
Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.
When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by.
But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
For years we had a kitschy picture hanging above our kitchen sink. A childhood gift to my husband, the pastel painting showed Jesus walking on water, his flowing hair back-lit as if on a movie set. We would laugh as we washed dishes that it was the perfect place to remember Christ’s miracle; perhaps its presence might invoke the Divine Spirit to hover over our grimy pots and pans and splash them sparkling clean.
I used to think this Scripture story was about water-walking: a proof of Christ’s divinity. But one late night in the kitchen, scrubbing dishes while Jesus glided over the waves above my head, I realized I had the message backwards.
Maybe the real miracle in this story is not that Jesus walks on the water – we assume God can defy human logic and abilities – but that he climbs into the boat. That he huddles next to his terrified friends – just as cold and wet from the storm, just as human – and settles in to show once again that he is Emmanuel: God-with-us.
So, too, for us today. When a friend receives a dark diagnosis, Jesus climbs into the boat with us. When we strain under the weight of our responsibilities, Jesus climbs into the boat with us. When the winds of violence and evil and despair whip around us so cold and biting that we can barely breathe, Jesus climbs into the boat with us. And as the wind slowly quiets down, we remember the strength of a God who sits beside us, whose very presence calms storms.
As we settle into the New Year, still exhausted from the holiday whirlwind, still straining because the wind is always against us, God is still walking out towards us, steady as always, calming our fear. Yes, our hearts are hardened again; no, we haven’t understood all that Jesus was trying to teach us. But maybe, as we remember that God never abandons us, as our terror turns again to amazement, maybe this time we will take courage. Maybe this time we will understand the miracle of presence.
Prayer
God of all strength and consolation, you always hear those who cry out to you in their need. Though the world’s evils are many, never let your faithful people be overcome. Heal us with the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation. Let your face shine upon us and we shall be saved. Grant this through Christ, our risen Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Our Lady of Prompt Succor is a title under which Mary is honored uniquely by the people of New Orleans. When Louisiana was still French territory, Ursuline nuns arrived to educate the children of the territory—the children of the French colonists, the Native Americans, and the local Creole people. Louisiana changed hands between the French and the Spanish governments, but, in 1800, Louisiana came back under French control. Anti-clerical and anti-religious sentiment was running high among the French in the wake of the French Revolution, thus many of the Ursulines fled to Havana.
The head of the remaining Ursulines in New Orleans, Mother Saint Andre Madier, needed more sisters to come aid the struggling convent and Lousiana mission. She wrote to her cousin in France, another Ursuline, Mother Saint Michel. She pleaded with Mother Saint Michel to send more sisters. Mother Saint Michel knew that this was going to be a nearly impossible request: due to the persecution of religious men and women during the revolution, France was itself experiencing a shortage of sisters.
Feeling that she had to aid her cousin as much as possible, Mother Saint Michel wrote to a French bishop, requesting a transfer of French sisters to America. The bishop referred her to the pope.
Pope Pius VII was a prisoner of Napoleon, thus his access to mail was extremely limited, to say the least. Mother Saint Michel sent her letter and prayed in front of a statue of the Madonna, vowing to have Mary honored in New Orleans under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, if she would grant her letter a speedy and favorable response. Just over a month later, Mother Saint Michel received a letter from Pope Pius VII granting her and several sisters permission to go to New Orleans.
In December of the next year, Mother Saint Michel arrived in New Orleans with a crew of postulants and the statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. They placed the statue in the chapel of the Ursuline Convent on Chartres Street in New Orleans, where it is still honored today.
The image to the right and below shows a mosaic honoring Our Lady of Prompt Succor in the Ursuline Convent garden. The mosaic was created in 1997 by the Florentine artist Sergio Papucci. Around the border, it names two of the famous miracles in which Our Lady of Prompt Succor has interceded for the people of New Orleans.
In the fire of 1812, as the fire was approaching the convent, the sisters begged Our Lady of Prompt Succor for her intercession, and the fire shifted, sparing the convent. It was one of the few buildings in the old French quarter preserved from the flames. In 1815, on the eve of the Battle of New Orleans, the sisters prayed throughout the night with the American troops for their success in battle against the British, who more than twice outnumbered them in manpower. On the morning of January 8, the sisters offered Mass in their chapel for the American army. In the middle of Mass, a messenger arrived announcing the defeat of the British, who had gotten lost in the swampy area outside the city. Ever since, a Mass of Thanksgiving has been offered to Our Lady of Prompt Succor on January 8.
Our Lady of Prompt Succor, who always desires to aid your children in times of need—pray for us!
Image Credits: The image of the statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in the Ursuline Convent chapel is by SICDAMNOME and was last accessed November 14, 2024 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). The image of the Battle of New Orleans mosaic, "Our Lady of Prompt Succor," was taken by Mike Young of Mike's Travel Guide. Used with permission.
