Christ Sleeps in the Boat
Saturday, January 27th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel recounts the well-known story of Jesus’ calming the storm. He and the Apostles were in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee when a “violent squall” arose. The waves crashed into the boat, which began filling with water. However, through all the noise and chaos, Jesus continued to sleep. The terrified Apostles awakened Him, saying, “Teacher, do [Y]ou not care that we are perishing?” Jesus immediately “woke up [and] rebuked the wind” before then chiding His Apostles for their lack of faith.
In her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, St. Therese of Lisieux referred to this Gospel passage several times. In one chapter, she wrote:
“Far from experiencing any consolation, complete aridity—desolation, almost—was my lot. Jesus was asleep in my little boat as usual. How rarely souls let Him sleep peacefully within them. Their agitation and all their requests have so tired out the Good Master that He is only too glad to enjoy the rest I offer Him. I do not suppose He will wake up until my eternal retreat, but instead of making me sad, it makes me very happy.”
St. Therese understood the boat in today’s Gospel to be a symbol of the individual soul. Like the boat on the stormy sea, our souls are rocked by continuous waves of temptations, anxieties, and other sufferings that threaten to turn us off course from our goal of Heaven. When we are in the state of sanctifying grace, God Himself resides within our souls. Once we attain the level of spiritual perfection about which St. Therese wrote, where we are able to unite our wills more fully with God’s Will, Jesus will figuratively sleep peacefully in our souls.
Since God cannot possess any imperfection, we cannot literally tire Him out with our requests. However, many saints have written about the delight that God experiences when a soul peacefully accepts His Will and seeks only to praise, adore, and love Him. Prayers of petition are praiseworthy and rooted in Sacred Scripture (i.e., Jn 16:24), but we should not pray solely to ask God for favours. The primary purpose of prayer is to adore God, then to thank Him for His many blessings, implore His mercy for our sins and their punishments, and offer Him our petitions (Baltimore Catechism no. 3, q. 476). These purposes of prayer are visible in the Our Father, which begins by praising God before asking Him to provide for our spiritual and bodily needs.
Today’s Gospel, read in light of St. Therese’s writings, is a good reminder to evaluate the reasons for which we pray. We may find ourselves continually offering prayers of petition without remembering to also adore and thank God for His blessings and mercy. If so, this is an opportunity to begin cultivating good habits of prayer in which we offer prayers of praise and thanksgiving alongside our petitions. In this way, our souls will gradually become like the boat in today’s Gospel, weathering the storms of life without becoming inwardly disturbed, so that Our Lord can sleep peacefully within our hearts.