15 April 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“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
Paul spent years organising a collection among his Gentile churches for the poor Christians of Jerusalem. It was more than relief work. For Paul it was a sign that the Church is one body, that the nations who had received the gospel from Jerusalem now shared their goods with the mother Church. Here he holds up an unexpected example to the wealthy Corinthians: the churches of Macedonia, who were themselves poor and persecuted. “For during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” Joy and poverty together produced generosity: that is the arithmetic of grace. They gave “according to their means, and even beyond their means,” and they begged Paul for “the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints.” Then he gives the secret: “they gave themselves first to the Lord.” Generosity with money follows the gift of oneself, never the other way round. Older Kerala Christians remember the custom of the handful of rice, the pidiyari: each day the mother of the house set aside a fistful of rice from the family's portion for the church and the poor, even in years of want. It was the Macedonian spirit in a Kerala kitchen. Paul then lifts the whole matter to the level of Christ: “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” The Son of God emptied himself into our poverty, even the poverty of the tomb, so that we might share the riches of his Resurrection. Every Christian act of giving is a small echo of that great exchange. Finally Paul gently presses the Corinthians, who had made a good start a year before: “now finish doing it.” Good intentions are not yet generosity.
In the Gospel, evening has come after a long day of teaching by the lake. Jesus says, “Let us go across to the other side,” toward the Gentile shore. “A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.” The disciples are experienced fishermen, and they are terrified. Their cry is half prayer and half accusation: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” It is a cry many believers have made in illness, debt, grief or persecution. Jesus gets up and speaks to the storm as one speaks to a disobedient servant: “Peace! Be still!” and there is “a dead calm.” Then he turns to them: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” The Psalms had said that only the LORD rules the raging sea: “he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed” (Psalm 107:29). So the disciples' final question answers itself: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” The early Church read this scene in the light of Easter. The Lord who slept in the boat is the Lord who slept in the tomb, and the one who rose up to calm the sea is the one who rose from the dead to calm the fear of his disciples. The boat is the Church, crossing to the other side with Christ on board, through every storm of history. He may seem to be asleep; he is never absent. St Augustine used to say, in substance, that when a storm rises in us, of anger or fear or temptation, it is because Christ is asleep in us, that is, our faith in him has fallen asleep: wake him by remembering him, and there will be calm. Kerala knows both storms and boats. In the floods of August 2018, fishermen from the coast carried their own boats inland and rescued thousands of strangers. In the storm of fear, the Risen Lord asks us to be that kind of people: not paralysed, but generous, steady, and sure that he is with us.
The two readings belong together. Fear makes us cling to what we have; faith opens our hands to give. The Macedonians were in a storm of affliction, and still they gave with joy, because they had first given themselves to the Lord who is master of the storm. When we trust that Christ is in the boat, we can afford to be generous.
Theme: “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.”
The joyful generosity of the poor, the great exchange of Christ, and the Lord who calms the storm.
“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and will be repaid in full.” Proverbs 19:17
“for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” 2 Corinthians 8:2
Apply: Set aside a small daily gift for the poor this week.
“He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap,” Psalm 113:7
“For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9
Apply: Complete one good work of charity that you began and left unfinished.
“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: When fear rises today, pray slowly: Jesus, you are in my boat.
The poor Macedonians teach us that generosity flows from first giving ourselves to the Lord who became poor for us.
The Risen Christ is in the boat of the Church; fear closes our hands, but faith opens them.
Take-home resolution: This week give a daily handful to the poor, finish one unfinished good work, and meet every storm with faith.
Dear friends, Paul tells the Corinthians about the churches of Macedonia. They were poor and suffering, yet their joy overflowed in generosity. They gave beyond their means, and they begged to share in helping the poor of Jerusalem. Why? Because they first gave themselves to the Lord (2 Corinthians 8:5).
Our grandmothers knew this. Every day they set aside a handful of rice for the church and the poor, even when there was little in the house. That is Macedonian generosity in a Kerala kitchen.
And Paul reminds us why we give: Jesus Christ was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He gave everything, even his life. Every gift we make is a small echo of his.
In the Gospel a storm hits the boat. Jesus is asleep on a cushion. The disciples shout: Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? He rises, rebukes the wind, and says to the sea: Peace! Be still! And there is a great calm.
Then he asks them, and us: why are you afraid? He was in the boat all the time. He slept in the tomb and rose again; he is in the boat of his Church today. When storms come, let us wake him with our prayer, and let us not allow fear to close our hands to the poor. Alleluia! Amen.
Children, Jesus was sleeping in a boat when a storm came. When his friends called him, he said to the waves: be still! And they obeyed. When you are scared at night, say: Jesus, you are here with me.
Grandmothers in Kerala used to save a handful of rice every day for poor people. Can you save one coin or one sweet this week to share?
Lord Jesus Christ, though you were rich, for our sake you became poor, so that by your poverty we might become rich. Teach us the joy of the Macedonians, who gave themselves first to you and then gave beyond their means. When storms rise around us and within us, and you seem to be asleep, help us to call on you with faith. Speak your word, Peace! Be still!, over our fears, and make us generous and calm because you are with us in the boat. Amen. Alleluia!