(A Reflection on today’s Gospel by Saint Augustine, Sermon 51, comparing Christian life to a ship)
As a vessel on the sea be exposed to a thousand danger – to pirates, to quick sands, to hidden rocks, and to tempests — so man in this life is encompassed with perils, arising from the temptations of hell — from the occasions of sin, from the scandals or bad counsels of men, from human respect, and above all from the passions of corrupt nature…
This should not cause him to lose confidence. Rather…when you find yourself assaulted by a violent passion…take whatever you can avoid the occasion (of sin) and place your reliance on God…:when the tempest is violent, the pilot never takes his eyes from the light which guides him to port.
In like manner, we should keep our eyes always turned to God, who alone can deliver us, from the many dangers to which we are exposed.
(St. Augustine, Sermon 51; from the fourth Sunday after Epiphany)
Image Credits: Rembrandt, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633). Religious art, Oil on canvas, Lost Painting, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Katoliko Ako, DYAF 1143 Ang Radyo Ko!
