9 April 2016
Saturday of the Second Week of Easter
The apostles were not just being clueless in today’s gospel. At the end of the passage, we see them wanting to take Jesus in, when suddenly they discover that they are at the other side of the sea. By the time they see Jesus, they “had rowed about three or four miles.” The Sea of Galilee is about 8 miles wide and 13 miles long, and the apostles are rowing in a storm– it is safe to say they are nowhere close to shore.
However, Jesus had other plans. They are brought to the shore immediately, with no particular explanation. It wasn’t what they had in mind, but it was a very good way for Jesus to get them out of the storm. Looking back now, the rejection letter I got from the Naval Academy was one of the best things that could have happened. At the time, it wasn’t what I had in mind, but it was a very good way for Jesus to lead me to my vocation. When we’re going through it, God’s providence can be surprising, wonderful, disheartening, baffling– perhaps all at the same time. But if we go along with it, it turns out to be a very good way for Jesus to get us out of the storm.