Carlos Caso-Rosendi
When the storm passes, the wicked are no more,
but the righteous are established for ever.
Proverbs 10:23-25
I lost count of how many times I have said that God is good, He is a benefactor, and everything that comes from Him is grace that will help us grow and be saved. There are times when Jesus seems to be asleep in the boat. He’s there seemingly unaware that we are floating above the abyss while the storm menacingly tosses the barque of Peter to and fro. God allows things to get really rotten to bring our distrust out. Distrust cannot be killed until it is out there. Nothing focuses the mind like imminent death. Faced with an almost certain end, the disciples had to wake up Jesus. Little faith calls on God, mature strong faith waits quietly for deliverance. Both attitudes are good. The ones with little faith will grow it, the ones with strong faith will perfect what they have even further.
When Pope John Paul II was in the last days of his long papacy, one could see the storm clouds gathering. On February 13, 2005 — shortly before the Pope’s death — we learned of the passing of Sister Lucia Dos Santos, Lucy of Fatima. The death of those two saintly souls is like a marker in time. Things began to shake uncomfortably after April 2, 2005 when Pope Wojtyla left us. Dissension and bickering in the Church began to show. Scandal followed scandal as more shameful revelations rocked the Catholic world. Not even the 2,000 year doctrine of the faith seems to be safe, as groups within the Church appear to maneuver wanting to change what we thought was unchangeable.
To my mind, the purpose of the Storm is twofold. First, to weed out the lukewarm and those who are false. Second, to strengthen the faith of those who are loyal to Christ’s teaching. Experience is a brutal teacher but there is no better way to learn. We can read and theorize about the love of God for his creatures but all we can learn through books is nothing when we compare it to being saved from destruction by the strong arm of God.
We seem to be going through the eye of the Storm right now. The relative calm will not last forever. The hostile anti-God forces are still out there. This is a good time to regroup, make our faith strong and get ready to face the wind until the storm passes.
Doing wrong is like sport to a fool,
but wise conduct is pleasure to a person of understanding.
What the wicked dread will come upon them,
but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
When the tempest passes, the wicked are no more,
but the righteous are established for ever.
Proverbs 10:23-25 (NRSVACE)
Carlos Caso-Rosendi 
“Doing wrong is like sport to a fool.” There is always something in Proverbs that can light up the times we inhabit. The popular culture of the entire post-Christian west expresses itself in endless, dramatic, largely (perhaps entirely) artificial churning of anxiety. It is a soap opera or a sporting season. There is no end to it in both the eschatological sense and in the sense of nothing is ever resolved. Thus the means (the calumny, the false outrage, the incitements, the intimidation) are neither justified nor seen to require justification. Winning is everything. It is, as a moment’s reflection reveals, the sport of fools. Carlos, excellent observation. Could you identify the painting please?
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Certainly. The painting is Christ Asleep In His Boat by Jules Joseph Meynier.
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