Votive Mass to Avert Storms

Tuesday, 01 June 2010 12:48

Bishop Glen John Provost Bishop of Lake Charles Our Lady Star of the Sea Church Cameron, Louisiana June 1, 2010, First Day of Hurricane Season Mass to Avert Storms “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”  Mark 4:41 We come this evening on the first day of hurricane season to invoke our Blessed Mother’s intercession under the title of “Our Lady Star of the Sea,” that we might be spared stormy and destructive weather.  I would suggest to you that the great spiritual writers of our Catholic Church remind us that there are two qualities that we should possess when we approach God with any petition.  The first quality is the virtue of faith.  We must believe and believe firmly.   Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of this firm faith, when He said:  “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6).  Faith of this kind is the faith with which we should approach God in prayer.  It is the kind of faith that the disciples in the boat had when they turned to our Lord, who was asleep, in the midst of the storm (cf. Mark 4).  I am sure that if any of you have ever been on boats in the midst of a storm, then you know that it is virtually impossible to sleep!  I know.  I have been there myself on two or three occasions.  However, Jesus is asleep, to show His majesty and His power.  This is not just anyone—He is the God-man.  The disciples awaken Him and they say, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38).  Jesus wakes up and says these simple words:  “Quiet!  Be still!” (Mark 4:39).  It is that same “quiet, be still” that we ask God to speak as we begin this hurricane season. The second quality that our Catholic spiritual writers tell us we should have in petition to God is the quality of humility.  In living the virtue of humility, we are prepared to acknowledge the fact that we are not perfect and that we come in weakness to God with our intentions.  With all of us, you and me, have reasons to repent.  All of us are in need of forgiveness.  All of us have that which burdens the soul and all of those things need to be cleansed and purified.  We acknowledge that willingly, as we did at the beginning of Mass and as we will do in the procession praying the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  As we walk to the shrine of Our Lady Star of the Sea, we will call to mind our own weaknesses, offenses and shortcomings before God.  That humility is what inspires us to come also to accept forgiveness because without that humility we would be unable to admit our need for God.  Faith and humility are two very necessary prerequisites for approaching God with any petition, and especially a petition of such importance as the one that we carry in our hearts and minds today.  We seek our Heavenly Father’s help.  We want Mary to pray for us. Now there are those with perhaps a hesitant faith.  Maybe there are some who will pray with a lingering reservation in their minds.  We will pray but say, “What if.”  At this point, I think we might risk not even having faith the size of a mustard seed.  I have a devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes.  There is a particular prayer in that devotion and you may know it already.  It is the prayer of St. Bernadette Soubirous.  That prayer is intriguing to me.  This is how it begins:  “O my God, I beg you, by your loneliness, not that you may spare me affliction, but that you may not abandon me in it.”  What St. Bernadette expresses, I think, is a faith which realizes that God’s will is vastly larger than we can imagine and that even if affliction comes, then in some mysterious way it may be part of a plan which is greater than any of us can conceive.  Let the affliction come, the pray seems to say, but let us not be abandoned in the midst of it.  Even in affliction, we are never separated from God’s loving Providence.  “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”  The disciples asked that question in wonder.  We must approach the marvels of God with the same faith and humility that God might indeed spare us from  anguish and affliction, that His will be done above all things.  I wonder how many of us thanked God for a calm hurricane season last year, marveling at His protection.    This is a sacred place — the Shrine of Our Lady Star of the Sea.  It has seen much suffering and many blessings as well.  Mary’s children lift their voices once again, confident that even with faith the size of a mustard seed that God will hear their prayers.  With faith and humility, Mary’s children come.  May God hear their prayers with Mary’s voice raised in faithful and humble petition.