In today’s gospel (Mk 4:35-41) we have the episode of the storm calmed by Jesus. The boat on which the disciples are crossing the lake is beaten by the wind and waves and they are afraid they will sink. Jesus is with them on the boat, yet he is in the stern asleep on the cushion. The disciples, filled with fear, cry out to him: “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?”

Often we too, beaten by the struggles of life have cried out to the Lord: “Why do you remain silent and do nothing for me?”. Especially when it seems we are sinking, because of the loss of love or the project in which we had laid great hopes disappears; or when we are at the mercy of the unrelenting waves of anxiety; or when we feel we are drowning in problems or lost in the middle of the sea of life, with no course and no harbor. Or even, in the moments in which the strength to go forward fails us, because we have no job, or an unexpected diagnosis makes us fear for our health or that of a loved one. There are many moments in which we feel we are in a storm; we feel we are almost done in.

In these situations, and in many others, we too feel suffocated by fear and, like the disciples, risk losing sight of the most important thing. On the boat, in fact, even if he is sleeping, Jesus is there, and he shares with us all that is happening. His slumber, on the one hand surprises us, yet on the other it puts us to the test. The Lord is there, present; indeed, he waits – so to speak – for us to engage him, to invoke him, to put him at the center of what we are experiencing. His sleep causes us to wake up! (From Angelus address given by Pope Francis on 6/20/21) 

Because to be disciples of Jesus it is not enough to believe that there is a God, that he exists, but that God is also here, with us in the boat, and that God cares and that he hears our cries and knows our needs.   

In praying over this gospel passage and the Holy Father’s words, a question came to me that I had never thought of before.  What would Jesus have dreamt when he slept?  Jesus is fully human.  Part of being human is needing sleep and in that sleep dreaming.  Rapid Eye Movement, the subconscious organizing the experiences of the day, all the things that go into the science of sleep, what would have been Jesus’ dreams?  I’m not talking about the strange dreams we get when we decide to have pepperoni pizza as a midnight snack but those deep dreams that remain with us. 

We cannot know but as dreams seem to be shaped by what is important to us and what we experience, I think it might be safe to say that his dreams would center on his relationship with the Father, his mission, his love for us and all those encounters and moments he had in his public ministry.  I think his dreams would have been rooted in the living mystery of the Kingdom of God which he proclaimed. 

A thought – when we feel we are drowning in life, when we feel lost and afraid remember not just that there is a God but that we have a God who is with us – even in our very boat.  Call upon him and maybe even ask him in friendship to share his dream with us – his dream of the Kingdom, a dream which can give hope and even calm the storms we encounter.