(Mk 6:45-52)

«Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni

"Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni" - with these and similar words the liturgy of the Church repeatedly prays [...].

These invocations were probably formulated in the period of the decline of the Roman Empire. The disintegration of the supporting orders of law and of the basic moral attitudes, which gave them strength, caused the breaking of the banks that had hitherto protected peaceful coexistence between men. A world was passing away. Frequent natural cataclysms further increased this experience of insecurity. No force could be seen to halt this decline. All the more insistent was the invocation of God's own power: that He would come and protect men from all these threats.

"Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni". Today, too, we have many reasons to associate ourselves with this prayer [...] The world with all its new hopes and possibilities is, at the same time, distressed by the impression that the moral consensus is dissolving, a consensus without which legal and political structures do not function; consequently, the forces mobilised to defend these structures seem doomed to failure.

Excita - the prayer is reminiscent of the cry addressed to the Lord, who was sleeping in the disciples' storm-tossed boat that was close to sinking. When His powerful word had calmed the storm, He rebuked the disciples for their little faith (cf. Mt 8:26 and par.). He wanted to say: in yourselves faith has slept. He also wants to say the same thing to us. Even in us so often faith sleeps. Let us therefore pray to Him to awaken us from the sleep of a faith that has become tired and to restore to faith the power to move mountains - that is, to give right order to the things of the world».

[Pope Benedict, to the Roman Curia 20 December 2010].

The Roman communities of the time of Mk (the year of the four Caesars) were on the high seas and the disciples seemed to be alone: the Master had by this time gained the dry land (vv.46-47).

In the dark, though they wanted to advance, the tiny fraternities were confused by the ongoing civil war, marginalised by the ideology of power, battered by headwinds.

And they were catching nothing. They were only exposing themselves to hostile forces and it seemed to them that they were sinking with no chance of escape or future.

Our life, too, proceeds as on a small boat tossed about by earthquakes. We go hopeful, and yet adversity threatens to drown us, and with us it seems to drag all of life down.

Critical episodes, but they make us realise how much Christ's friendship is worth to us and what it conveys. Of course, God is no substitute for human work.

Only the Risen One overcomes the fright of upheavals, but he does so without rushing in, and even wants to go beyond the storms in which the disciples seem to get wrapped up and lost (v.48).

He is devoid of established patterns that would frame him forever (it would be like making him evasive and making him perish). Indeed - like the disciples of Emmaus - they do not recognise him (vv.49-50).

But if we welcome him in a simple and straightforward way in our little boat (v.51), amazed within ourselves (cf. Greek text) we realise that there is another kingdom, that everything is in his power.

Unless we reduce the Lord to our own ideas or strengths and desires - everything will serve to revive us, even the headwind and the pitfalls of the sea (a figure of evil). And while frying, our Faith will be bold and combative, not warlike.

The unseen Friend guides and fulfils infallibly, and brings us to shore (v.53) - an ultimate condition that the force of the waves cannot affect, not even when we have the feeling of being swept away by the waves.

Using paraphrases from the book of Exodus and Isaiah (New Exodus), Mk seeks to help his communities understand the Mystery of the Person of Jesus: the presence of the Father in Him - and in the events of their life experience, also torn by internal controversies.

Up to the second generation of believers, not a few Jewish converts considered Christ to be a person in line with their mentality and tradition, in agreement with the prophecies and figures of the First Testament.

Conversely, some pagans who had accepted Jesus as Lord advocated rather an understanding with the worldly mentality - a kind of agreement between the Son of God and the Empire.

But could the alliance of the new Faith with the ideology and imagery of domination have calmed the storms?

The situation of the tiny fraternities at the centre of the Empire was still dark and unstable. Christ seemed not quite there (he never wants his own to be disengaged!) and the sea was rough, the wind at the bow. Could the Exodus be re-created?

Faith in the Delivering God was shaken; not distressed - but distressed. The disciples did not possess the same calm trust in the Master as they did in the Father.They maintained their own mentality, clouded and unmoving (vv.49-52).

In spite of everything, and precisely in the condition of stranded pilgrims, in approaching his Person they experienced a strange and different stability: the persevering against the tide and the proceeding - in overcoming alienations.

A crossing to freedom that came from clinging to Jesus alone inside, in the chaos of securities, without guarantees - because the Lord does not take us out of eddies and swinging situations, to die in norms (or expected conformisms).

Ours is a discordant permanence, fluctuating; and actuating, but in reversals.

Hence not feudal: not with a reassuring tradition alternative - not mediated by that 'power' of civitas christiana that would extinguish the strength to renew us (and exhaust us).

Even today, it is the path of non-habitual, critical growth that reveals Him capable of manifesting His quiet power, returning the disrupted elements to calm - and us to the power of human faculties.

Says the Tao Tê Ching (LX) that suggests we stand in regal dignity: "Ruling a great kingdom is like frying minute fish". Master Wang Pi specifies the reason: "(The ruler) does not turn them over. If he is restless he does harm, if he is quiet he keeps his genuineness intact'.

Master Ho-shang Kung comments: "When small fish are fried, one does not remove their innards and scales, nor dare one shake them, lest they fall apart. When the government of the state is harassed, the subjects are seditious; when the government of the person is harassed, the essence is dispersed'.

More than the opposing frictions and external events, anxiety, impression and anguish come from the very fear of facing the normal issues of existence.

This is perhaps out of personal or ecclesial mistrust: feeling in danger simply because we perceive ourselves to be intimately undeveloped, incapable of other dialogue and reworking, converting or reshaping.

The fatigue of questioning ourselves and the suffering that the adventure of Faith holds, will also fade amidst the discomfort of the rough seas.

It is enough to disengage oneself from fixed ideas of stability, even religious stability, and listen to life as it is, embracing it, even in its throng of bumps, bitterness, dashed hopes of harmony, sorrows - engaging with this flood of new emergencies, and encountering one's own deep nature.

The best vaccine against the anxieties of adventuring together with Christ on the changing waves of the unexpected will be precisely not to avoid worries upstream - rather, to go towards them and welcome them; to recognise them, to let them happen.

Even in the time of global crisis, the apprehensions that seem to want to devastate us, come to us as preparatory energies for other joys that wish to break through - for new cosmic attunements; for amazement from within ourselves, and guidance of the beyond.

Our little boat is in an inverted, inverted, unequal stability; uncertain, unbecoming - yet energetic, prickly, capable of reinventing itself. And it will even be overstretched, but with disruption.

To internalise and live the message:

On what occasions have you found easy what before seemed impossible?

God as hostage, or the different view of danger (Mk 4:35-41)

The whole Gospel of Mk is an articulate response to the question: who is Jesus (v.41)? His direction of travel seems to go against the grain, and he brazenly breaks the rules accepted by all.

While the disciples were fondling nationalist desires, the Master begins to make it clear that He is not the vulgarly expected Messiah, restorer of the defunct empire of David or the Caesars (fighting for succession under the eyes of the Roman community of Mk: Galba, Otone, Vitellius, Vespasian).

The Kingdom of God is open to all mankind, which in those turbulent times - torn apart by the swift but bloody civil war following Nero's follies - seeks security, welcome, points of reference. Everyone can find home and shelter there (Mk 4:32b).

But the apostles and church veterans seem averse to Christ's proposals; they remain insensitive to an overly broad idea of fraternity - which displaces them. This is a live and very serious problem.

The teaching and reminder imposed on the disciples is to go to the other shore (v.35), that is, not to keep for themselves, but to communicate the riches of the Father to the pagans, who are considered impure and infamous.

Yet his own people do not want to know about risky disproportions that would actually make the action of the Son of God stand out. They are calibrated to the customs of common religiosity and a circumscribed ideology of power.

Therefore, in order to exorcise the danger of the mission - and having to accommodate people, rework situations, welcome surprises that would shake them up (questioning them) - they try to take the Master hostage (v.36).

The resistance to the divine commission and the resulting lacerating internal debate unleashes a great storm in the assemblies of believers."And there came a great gale of wind. And the waves rolled in the boat, so that the boat was already full" (v.37).

The storm concerns the disciples alone, the only ones dismayed; not Jesus - at the stern, at the helm (v.36 - and on the "cushion": it is the Risen One).

What happens "inside" is not a mere reflection of what happens "outside"! This is the error to be corrected.

Such identification blocks and makes life chronic, starting with the handling of emotionally relevant situations - which have their own meaning. They carry a meaningful appeal, they introduce a different eye and dialogue.

Even from the peace of the divine condition that dominates chaos (v.39), the Lord calls attention to and rebukes the apostles, accusing them of not having faith, that is, an ounce of risk of love - like a grain of mustard seed (v.31) - to bring to humanity to renew it.

In short, we are confused, we create embarrassment, and the chaos of schemes and selfishness rages on? We are paradoxically going in the right direction, but we must not be overcome by fear.

In Him, we are imbued with a different view of danger.

Says the Tao Tê Ching (xxii): "The saint does not see by himself, therefore he is enlightened". Even in straits.

Indeed, it seems that Jesus expressly wanted the dark moments of confrontation and doubt for the apostles (v.35). Even for us, even if we were church leaders... because otherwise there will be no cleansing from repetitive convictions.

Textbook expectations (and the habit of setting up conformist harmonies) block the flowering of what we are and hope for.

Especially what is annoying or even 'against' has something decisive to tell us. Even in the church boat (v.36), discomfort must express itself.

It is to revive the essence of each person and of the community itself, to introduce change (hidden or repressed) and activate it in the most effective way... by contact with the hidden, primordial energies.

More than the opposing frictions and conflicting external events, anxiety, impression and anguish come from the very fear of facing the normal or decisive questions of existence.

This is out of mistrust: feeling in danger perhaps only because we perceive ourselves to be intimately undeveloped, incapable of other conversation, of discovering and reworking, converting, or remodelling.

The fatigue of questioning ourselves and the suffering that the adventure of Faith holds, will also fade amidst the discomfort of the rough sea - which precisely does not want us to return to 'those of before'.

It is enough to disengage oneself from the idea of stability, even religious stability, and listen to life as it is, embracing it, even in its throng of bumps, bitterness, dashed hopes of harmony, sorrows - engaging with this flood of new emergencies, and encountering one's own profound nature.

The best vaccine against the anxieties of adventuring together with Christ on the changing waves of the unexpected will be precisely not to avoid worries upstream - rather, to go towards them and welcome them; to recognise them, to let them happen.

Even in the time of global crisis, the apprehensions that seem to want to devastate us, come to us as preparatory energies of other joys that wish to break through - new cosmic attunements; for the amazement starting with ourselves, and the guidance of the beyond.

Our little boat is in an inverted, inverted, unequal stability; uncertain, unbecoming - yet energetic, prickly, capable of reinventing itself. And it may even be excessive, but it is disruptive.

For a proposal of Tenderness (not corresponding) that is not a relaxation zone, because it rhymes with terrible anxiety and... suburbs!

Some other providence, which you ignore

"It is good not to fall, or to fall and rise again. And if you do happen to fall, it is good not to despair and not to become estranged from the love the Sovereign has for man. For if he wills, he can do mercy to our weakness. Only let us not turn away from him, let us not be distressed if we are forced by the commandments, and let us not be disheartened if we come to nothing (...).

Let us neither hurry nor retreat, but always begin again (...).

Wait for him, and he will show you mercy, either by conversion or by trials, or by some other providence that you do not know."

[Peter Damascene, Second Book, Eighth Discourse, in La Filocalia, Turin 1982, I,94]