My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

There are some passages in scripture that I find myself revisiting time and time again, and no matter how many times I read the verses, I always gain a new insight or perceive a new grace. This weekend’s passage, the stilling of the storm, is one such verse.

I remember the first time I spent a significant amount of time pondering this passage. I was making a retreat at Belmont Abbey prior to my ordination to the diaconate, and these verses occupied almost every moment I spent in chapel. It may have been that in consideration of the promises I was preparing to make, respect and obedience to my bishop and his successors, and the promise to live my life in chaste celibacy, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed like the apostles in the boat. Think about it, many of them were fishermen and had been in storms on the lake before, yet, despite their experience, they were filled with fear, worrying for their lives. I had spent almost three years preparing for my ordination and yet I was still feeling a bit nervous with the decision I was about to make. And to add to the stress, like the apostles, it felt a bit like that Jesus was sleeping on me in the midst of the storm. What I learned from pondering this moment in the Lord’s ministry, and what brought me consolation, is that even if sleeping, the Lord is in control and that the storms of life cannot overwhelm Him, and by extension, cannot overwhelm us when we are united to Him.

I’ve returned to this story in prayer many times over the course of my 35 years of priesthood, each time when the storms of life and ministry seemed to be threatening me, and each time I was reminded that He might appear to be sleeping, but He has a plan and was not going to let me be lost.

As you can imagine, this passage brings me a good deal of comfort as I approach my episcopal ordination. As I say “yes” to this new responsibility, I cannot know what this “yes” is going to cost. I cannot anticipate the joys or sorrows, the highs or the lows, I may experience as a bishop, but what I do know for certain is that the Lord will be with me in the “boat” and, so though things may get rocky, bumpy and uncomfortable at times, He will not let me be lost.

I encourage all of us to spend a little bit of extra time with this gospel in the coming days. Read it over and over and bring to the Lord the present storms in our lives so that we might receive the conviction that these troubles cannot beat us so long as Christ is in our lives. To quote St. Teresa of Avila, “let nothing trouble thee, let nothing frighten thee, all things pass away…God alone suffices.”

In Christ,

The Most Reverend John J. McDermott

Bishop-elect of Burlington