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The Light of the World
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
The Mass
Today the glory of the Lord is again proclaimed, this time by the tempest on the sea. The apostles’
boat is tossed to and fro as if there were no one at the helm. The boat and its occupants are
engulfed by the darkness of the night. The disciples, seeing the violence of the wind and the
waves, fear that they are lost. There is no one to save them, for the Master is asleep. He sleeps as
if their danger — and it is His danger as well — means nothing to Him. The disciples find no
alternative but to approach Him and awaken Him. “Lord, save us, we perish.” Christ rises and
manifests to His disciples His sovereign power over the raging elements. He gives a sign, and
there is a great calm. The disciples are amazed and ask themselves: Who is this man, that the
wind and the waves obey Him?
With this picture in mind we approach the Church today. We are impressed, as we were on the
preceding Sunday, with the majesty of the kingship of Christ. The angels fall down before Him
and adore Him; the earth looks up to Him. The Church cries out with joy at the possession of
Him, and her children rejoice in the Holy Sacrifice by which they are redeemed, for this sacrifice
is the means of their salvation (Introit). Thou “knowest that we are beset by perils such as our
human frailty cannot withstand” (Collect). The boat that is being tossed about by the waves of
the sea is the Church. We who occupy the boat, the members of the Church, are in danger of
being lost unless the protecting hand of the Lord rescues us. Christ remains in the boat with us
as long as we have love for Him and for one another. “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and “where
there are two or three gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 19:19;
18:20). A church without love would be a church without Christ. A church, a community, a
parish that is not bound together with the bond of love, does not satisfy the condition of the
Epistle. Where love dwells in the heart, there is Christ.
Love drew the Savior into the boat on the tossing sea of Galilee; it is this same love that
has caused Him to remain in the bosom of His Church. The Church is His kingdom, and in it
He exercises His power, not to bring souls into subjection, but to save them. “The Lord hath
reigned; let the earth [the Church] rejoice” (Introit). By these words we are carried back in
memory to the time He arose in the foundering boat and commanded the waves to be calm. On
another occasion He rebuked the enemies of His Church and warned them, “The gates of hell
shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). We can undoubtedly remember many times when He
appeared in the tossing boat of our soul and commanded the winds and the waves of temptation
to be calm, and “there came a great calm.” On those occasions we experienced in ourselves the
glory of Christ. “The right hand of the Lord hath exalted me” (Offertory).
With a lively faith in the power of the hand of the Lord, which has saved us in the trials of this
life, we begin the Offertory procession. On the altar He permits His majesty to be manifest,
although His real presence is veiled under the appearance of bread and wine. We discern no life;
He is, as it were, asleep in the boat (the Church), resting while awaiting the exertions and the
experiences of the new day. Yet in His sacramental presence on the altar the Church possesses
Him in all His strength and power, in His eternally precious life. In Holy Communion He enters
into each individual soul as into a boat, to act as its protector and guide. While He remains
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