“Unless you want to live without Him, you’re going to have to set sail.”
These are the words of a wonderful priest during a holy hour of Eucharist Adoration. He was
finishing up talking about the ocean in Scripture and the imagery of pushing away from the firm land to the unknown seas to challenge yourself and grow closer to Christ. I loved hearing this priest's words, and even though the gospel stories involving the sea are ones I've heard many times, it all seemed new and beautiful as I listened and prayed.
Many of you I’m sure have seen those sweatshirts that say “My lifeguard walks on water”, right? We all laugh when we see that, joking how it’s “awesome”, “cool”, or “clever”. Yet we rarely stop to actually think how truly and deeply awesome that statement is. And how not only can our “Lifeguard” walk on water, but He commands it. When Jesus was asleep in the boat with His disciples during a storm, He woke up (notice: in His timing, not theirs) and rebuked the waves and all of nature listed to Him immediately. He made peace among the stressful, scary chaos that His disciples were stuck in simply by saying a word. If He can do so with nature, how much must He be able to help us when our own human insecurities and fears are what is getting in the way? However, it is not enough for us to just sit and freak out, passively hoping that the Lord with come straighten everything out but unwilling to even invite Him to. If He is to calm our chaos, we will have to step out of our boat of comfort-and-things-known and trust that He will reach out His hand and keep the waters firm under our feet. Our lives as Catholics are not meant to be easy - we see that in Simeon's prophesy, Christ’s suffering and death, and the lives of those in the early Church - but they also aren't meant to be something we go through alone.
During this holy hour, Father also said this:
“It’s scary to go out there... Everyone wants the firmness of the shallows.”
I certainly can’t deny that he’s right, and that it would be so much nicer to just be able to stay wherever we already are and do only what we are currently comfortable with (both spiritually and physically). How, though, can we give ourselves and our love to Him, if we aren’t even willing to trust Him - who waits with hands outstretched, commanding the seas around us - enough to take courage and step towards Him?
Now, this concept is absolutely packed. Because of this, I can’t go into all the different pieces of it here (plus, I'm not exactly smart enough to see all the pieces...). But I encourage you to continue to think and pray about the ideas in this post. Maybe you can just start with the simple, 14-word line from the priest:
“Unless you want to live without Him, you’re going to have to set sail.”