Master·evangeli.net
Today's Gospel + short theological explanation
On that day... A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm...
The Church was very soon a “persecuted church”, even for “the sake of justice”
EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)Today, we contemplate the "boat" with the Apostles, symbol of the Church, shaken by the "sea", symbol of the "world". The Apostles should not fear the threats: Christ —even though silent— is inside the boat, and exactly for this reason, she has never drowned.
The Church was very early a "persecuted church", even for the "sake of justice"; by the Jews, who persecuted it due to "fidelity to the Law"; by the Roman Empire as they saw the "Christians" as followers of a criminal; by those who have persecuted God… Furthermore, as men’s aspiration has always been to emancipate himself from God’s will, faith will appear as something opposing the "world", and so there will be persecution for the sake of justice in all times of History.
—Christ crucified is the persecuted just man referred by the prophets in the Old Testament. He himself is the arrival of the Kingdom of God: "Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of justice: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".
