Mark 4, 35-41: The account of the storm at sea. The whole time, during this storm, the Lord was asleep. Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said Be quiet! Be still….

The Holy Father Pope Francis used this account last year when the pandemic broke out and we saw the first signs of death and lockdown all around us in March of 2020. It seems as though the Lord was asleep.

Some people are good, have faith, go to Mass, receive plenty of formation, but are cold and dry when trying to pray. There is virtue, and even struggle.  They try, but it is as though there was nobody there.  They feel everything is cold and theoretical. They don’t feel anything. They don’t feel as though Jesus is there. In my heart I don’t feel anything. Like when you get a bad connection on the phone, cutting out. You can’t understand the other.

These souls seem to be good earth, but there doesn’t seem to be any communication. I don’t feel anything.

What is the solution?

Deep down, when you look at it, if there is a lack of real connection with Jesus, there is also deep down a lack of affective connection with others. Meaning connection, empathy, understanding.

Here’s how to move forward.

Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall Album Singularity 2017

Thumbnail: Rembrandt's Storm at Sea, 1633, stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.