The E-catechism: July 2001

  A new step
 
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The Bible and the Sea 
 

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    A new step

    Three years ago a team started to make a "different catechism ". The goal was to think about questions concerning our life and opening to a spiritual meaning.
    The initial purpose was to bring Jesus in our present situations. Did it not happen to those, men and women, who followed Him?
    We met every month, checking our work with each other's appreciation. Thanks to this exchange and cross-examination we have improved and enriched our text. Gradually we found a right pace and we can say that all of us are marked by this experience.
    Many told us that they benefited greatly of the text and they used it. We did hope to be more interactive but this rarely happened.
    Today we want to make a new step in proposing to make an update reading of the texts of the Bible. We have noticed with joy that small groups update and renew with skill the evangelical texts!
    Bring also your way of reading the Gospel, enriched of your experiences and of your faith.

    Jacques Gaillot

PARTENIA

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la bilbe 


The Bible and the Sea

"The Bible and the Sea" is the name of a small group of persons who meet regularly on board of a ship to discuss about the texts proposed by the liturgy of the day. They paid special attention to the relationship of Jesus with the sea.

marcher sur l'eau  For instance, one sees Jesus sending his disciples to sea after the multiplication of the loafs (Jn, 6, 31-47). Jesus stayed aside, leaving his disciples alone in the storm petrified: they did not recognize him when he came back to them, in an unusual way. We, personally, have observed that fear can make us lose all our reasoning. Instead, confidence (in oneself, in another, in God) can allow us to do much more than we imagine, even "walking on water"! 

In other parts of the Gospel, we see Jesus taking care of himself. He asks of his disciples to have at his disposal a boat to avoid to be crashed by the crowd. He lays down a cushion up the front of the boat and even sleeps during the storm, an indication that he is really tired and that he has total confidence in the crew.

Could it be us, the crew of today, in whom Jesus trusts to guide the ship of his good news in spite of the winds and the storms? To navigate this ship with intelligence and efficacy, the group thought about the saying of Catherine Chabot, an experienced navigator, who sailed around the world, alone and without help in the Vendee Globe sailing race. She said: "Fight with the sea not against it". Such an expression can be found in the Bible, about the struggle of Job with God (Gen. 32, 25). Job fights the whole night with God not against Him. Behind these little words," with, against" a certain idea about the notion of confrontation is showing. To fight with, does not necessary mean an opposition of a power against another power, but a knowledge of how to use the power of the other and to take part with it, like the surfers do with the waves. It is also to show some respect for the opponent and to know that if you totally win you also will lose a partner, who allows you to exist and to built yourself even if he is opposing to you.

In front of a raging sea, or in front of God who could not be seen without dying, humans are paralyzed with fear. Jesus comes to pacify our inner tempests: "Why are you so afraid? Why are you not confident?".