14 January 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
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“Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.” 1 Peter 5:9
At evening, after a long day of teaching, Jesus says to his disciples: “Let us go across to the other side.” On the lake “a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat”, while Jesus is “in the stern, asleep on the cushion”. The frightened disciples wake him: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He rises, rebukes the wind and says to the sea: “Peace! Be still!” Then comes the question for every age of the Church: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” The disciples are left wondering: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” This is a true Denha: the one asleep in their boat is the Lord of creation, the God who “made the storm be still” (Psalm 107:29).
Peter, who was in that boat, later writes to Christians facing persecution: “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” The disciples' cry, do you not care, receives its answer: he cares. But Peter is realistic: “Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith.” Today the Church in India honours St Devasahayam, who lived this word. Born Neelakanta Pillai, an official in the service of the kingdom of Travancore, he was baptised in 1745 and took the name Lazarus, Devasahayam. After his Baptism he refused to treat anyone as untouchable; for his faith he was arrested, paraded through towns and kept in chains for nearly three years, and at Aralvaimozhy in 1752 he was shot dead. The storm did not cease for him on earth, but Christ was in his boat, and his faith did not fail. The first reading of his memorial says it: “whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Theme: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Christ in the storm, the care of God, and the steadfast faith of St Devasahayam.
“he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” Psalm 107:29
“He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.” Mark 4:39
Apply: Name one storm in your life and bring it to Jesus.
“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22
“Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
Apply: Each night this week hand one worry to the Lord.
“therefore thus says the Lord GOD, See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: “One who trusts will not panic.”” Isaiah 28:16
“as it is written, “See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”” Romans 9:33
Apply: Pray for persecuted Christians through the prayers of St Devasahayam.
The Lord of wind and sea is in our boat.
St Devasahayam shows that faith can stand firm in the storm.
Take-home resolution: Hand your anxieties to Jesus each night this week, and pray for those who suffer for their faith.
Dear friends, the disciples are crossing the lake at evening when a great windstorm arises and the waves begin to fill the boat. Jesus is asleep on a cushion. They wake him: Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? (Mark 4:38).
Jesus rises and says to the sea: Peace! Be still! And there is a dead calm. Then he asks them: why are you afraid? Have you still no faith? (Mark 4:39–40). The disciples ask the question of Denha: who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Years later Peter, who was in that boat, writes: cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). And he warns: the devil prowls around like a roaring lion; resist him, steadfast in your faith (1 Peter 5:8–9).
Today we honour St Devasahayam. After his Baptism he would not deny Christ. For nearly three years he was kept in chains, and at Aralvaimozhy in 1752 he gave his life. The storm did not stop for him, but Christ was in his boat.
Let us hand our worries to the Lord who cares for us, and ask St Devasahayam to make us steadfast in faith. Amen.
Children, once there was a big storm and the disciples were scared, but Jesus said: Peace! Be still! And the sea became calm. When you are scared, say: Jesus, you are in my boat. I trust you!
Lord Jesus, you slept in the boat and rose to command the wind and the sea. When storms rise in my life, let me cast all my anxiety on you, because you care for me. Through the prayers of St Devasahayam, who stayed steadfast in faith through chains and death, keep me firm and unashamed in confessing you. Amen.
Today's readings stand in a storm. A boat full of frightened disciples wakes a sleeping Lord: “do you not care?” Years later a letter bearing Peter's name replies: “he cares for you”, and it tells Christians under pressure to resist, steadfast in faith. The Church in India today honours St Devasahayam, a man of our own soil who lived those words to the end.
Setting.
The letter is addressed to Christians scattered in Asia Minor (1:1), “exiles” who were suffering slander and hostility for their faith. It names Silvanus as its helper (5:12) and sends greetings from “Babylon”, a known code name for Rome (5:13). Some scholars think Peter wrote it through Silvanus; many think that a disciple wrote it in his name after his death, passing on his teaching. The Church receives it as God's word. The reading comes at the close, in advice to the community and its elders.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“for “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”” (5:5)
The quotation is from the Greek of Proverbs 3:34, also quoted in James 4:6. Humility is the way grace enters.
“Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” (5:7)
The verb is a strong one, used for throwing cloaks onto the colt (Luke 19:35). Anxiety is thrown, not kept. In the POC these words stand with v. 6.
“Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.” (5:8)
An image with an edge in the Roman world, where Christians came to be thrown to beasts. The advice is alertness, not panic.
“Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.” (5:9)
No one suffers for Christ alone. To know that is already a form of strength.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes v. 7 when it speaks of God's providence: Christ invites us to filial trust in the Father, and St Peter repeats it (CCC 322). It teaches too that the devil's power is not infinite, and that he cannot prevent the building up of God's reign (CCC 395). Both are needed for a sane Christian life: trust without naivety, alertness without fear.
Setting.
Mark has spent the day with Jesus teaching parables from a boat (4:1). At evening they cross to the other side, the Gentile side of the lake (5:1). The Sea of Galilee is well known for sudden storms. For the Bible, however, the sea is more than weather. It stands for chaos, which only God can master (Psalm 89:9; Psalm 107:29). The story also recalls Jonah asleep in a ship during a storm (Jonah 1:4–6). Here it is the Lord himself who sleeps.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”” (4:38)
Only Mark mentions the cushion, and only Mark has this rude question. In the sleep of Jesus we see his true humanity, and in the question our own prayers.
“He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.” (4:39)
Note the contrast with “a great windstorm” (v. 37): the Greek also speaks here of a great calm. What God alone can do in the Psalms, Jesus does with a word.
“He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”” (4:40)
He calms the sea first and then speaks to them. The real storm is the fear inside.
“Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (4:41)
This is the question of Mark's Gospel, which the reader must answer. It is the question of Denha.
How the Church reads it.
Tertullian saw in this little boat a picture of the Church, tossed by the waves of the world while the Lord seems patiently to sleep, until the prayers of the saints rouse him (in substance). St Augustine told his people that when the storm rises in the heart, Christ is asleep there, because faith has gone to sleep: wake him, and all is quiet (in substance). The Church has never promised calm weather, but rather that he is in the boat.
Why did Jesus sleep, if he knew the storm was coming?
Mark gives no reason. After a long day of teaching he may simply have been tired. It is a picture of real humanity and of complete trust in the Father. The Fathers saw both natures in this scene: as man he sleeps; as God he commands the sea.
St Devasahayam was born Neelakanta Pillai and served as an official in the kingdom of Travancore. Baptised in 1745, he took the name Lazarus, Devasahayam in Tamil and Malayalam, “God is my help”. He treated all people as equals, refusing to treat anyone as untouchable. He was arrested, held in chains for nearly three years, and shot at Aralvaimozhy in 1752. Pope Francis canonised him on 15 May 2022, the first Indian layman to be canonised. His tomb is at Kottar. The Church honours his faith without any bitterness, and she prays today for those who suffer for their faith in many lands, and for those who have wronged them.