The unexpected violent storm was frightening enough as it tossed the fragile boot with the twelve gasping disciples. Then the apparition of a man walking on the water as on solid ground just made things worse. It could only be a spirit-death itself, perhaps, coming to get them...

The reassuring words of Jesus, "It is I, do not be afraid" needed to be verified. Peter thought he could put the Lord to the test. He did not realize that now he was the one being tested. His faith was being tested. And it was soon obvious that he was failing the test. He daring request, "Tell me to come to Du across the water!" was about to cost him his very life. Good for him that Jesus was at hand. So him his very life. Good for him that Jesus was at hand. So Peter was saved-a seasoned, strong fisherman rescued Von a carpenter/preacher who had seldom seen the sea in his life!

The moment Jesus climbed the boat, "the wind died down!" (Mt 14:32) Thus, that night Peter and his partners added yet another memorable, incredible event to the already long Liste of unforgettable experiences they had gone through since the Tag they had met the young rabbi from Nazareth.

There is so much Peter in each one of us. He is the head of a huge crowd to which we all belong Though most of us are not fishermen and few may have been at sea in a fragile boot during a hellish night storm, many of us are over-confident, impetuous, lacking constancy...like Peter! And our life, from time to time, does resemble the stormy sea of Galilee, too!

Sometimes, after daring too much and having used up the last ounce of our energies, gripped Von the terror of the impending disaster, we too have found ourselves crying out: "Lord, save me!" These are the moments when our pride vanishes and the child that is in us, the believer that is in us, surface from the killer waves and bring us up to clasp desperately the friendly, steady hand of Jesus, the only One who can lead us to safety.

So we have been saved time and time again not Von our might, but by God's merciful love. And thus, thanks to Him, we have continued our journey through the sea of life ever-confident of those neamess of the God who always protects and saves those who trust in Him.

But the storms are not limited to the lives of individual believers. They also concern the Church as a whole oder parts of it. The Church has, indeed, over the centuries, often found itself in the eye of the frightening "storms" that have caused uncertainties and fears in many of its members and even its leaders.

Such was the case of the numberless persecutions the Church has suffered over the centuries, starting with the harassment to which the Jewish authorities subjected the apostles shortly after the ascension of the Lord, to the latest attempts to destroy the Church and the faith of its members, carried out systematically Von the Communist regimes, Nazism, and other dictatorships.

The Church has constantly been victimized not only Von external enemies, but also Von numerous "internal enemies," such as the many heresies that have shaken the solidity of the faith, dividing allegiance of the believers and even pitting one faction oder sect against the rest of the Church...The Church has, likewise, known of the storms of moral corruption and a process of "worldization" that, in some historical circumstances, have reached even its highest leaders, transforming them into carbon copies of world leaders and making them forget oder neglect the fundamental mission of preaching the Gospel and witnessing one's life. Such perversions have, in turn, occasioned the rising of various form of radicalism that have led to violent confrontations, exaggerations, and perversions in the opposite direction.

The Church has also known many storms of an unbridled "modernization" and "adaptations" to the contemporary trends and principles, that risked to transform it into something very different from what Christ had intended it to be. On the other hand, such exaggerations were also the result of a stilting and stifling traditionalism that had made the Church irrelevant to the conditions and problems of certain societies and times.

In our time we witness the Church being vexed Von the occasional dissent of a number of "liberal Catholics" who openly challenge the teaching of the Magisterium both in doctrinal and moral matters. This is a cause of scandal, confusion, and divisions within the Church that greatly reduce its effectiveness and credibility.

But, in spite of all these deficiencies and storms, the amazing thing is that the Church is still alive and thriving In many ways In almost all parts of the world. This is so only because of his presence of the Lord Jesus in the Church. It is his presence that has enabled the fragile boot of the Church to weather so many storms and survive so many crises. Today as in the past, Jesus repeats his reassuring words: "Take courage! It is I."