When Storms Roll In: Holy Water and the Prince of Peace
- Abby Thomas
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
This has been a summer jam-packed with thunderstorms! In fact, we've had three relatively significant thunderstorms just this week, one of which happened right in the middle of our Fourth of July celebration!
We celebrated the 250th birthday of our nation by spending the afternoon at my sister Leah's house. We had just kicked off the pickleball tournament when we heard the first rumble of thunder. By the time the last team's water balloon broke during the water balloon toss contest, the wind had picked up and the clouds had turned dark.
With one loud shout of, "Everyone get inside, now!" the women and children ran to the house for safety, while the men were left to clean up the yard and rescue the lawn chairs from the pouring rain! Eventually, the clouds cleared (after nothing but pouring rain), and we were able to continue the festivities with volleyball and a beanbag tournament. It was definitely a celebration to remember.
It's important to note that both my sister Leah and I have a flair for the dramatic when it comes to the weather! And sometimes my over-the-top response to the weather is met with spiritual enthusiasm.
Last summer, my husband and I took a six-hour road trip to visit a few of my close college friends. We were about halfway there when we received word that the following night would bring severe weather, including the possibility of a tornado. Unfortunately, our Airbnb was the upper unit of a duplex, which meant we did not have access to a basement if a tornado really did develop. We decided to continue on our journey and hope the meteorologists were wrong!
The day of the projected storm turned out to be extremely hot and humid, a perfect recipe for unfavorable weather. Mid-afternoon, we were making our way to my friend's house when I told my husband to drive to the nearest Catholic church.
I had one thing on my mind: holy water!
Unfortunately, this church did not have small bottles of holy water readily available for me to grab. So, I was left carrying the holy water by cupping it in my hands and hoping I didn't lose it, drop by drop, on my way back to the truck. I had just enough to bless my husband, my children, and our truck as we prayed for protection from the storm.
After a long and stressful evening of checking the radar, God answered our prayers. We remained safe as the storm passed, even as tornadoes touched down north of town, just a few miles from where we were staying!!
This memory reminds me of a line from one of my favorite Catholic children's books, When God Speaks by Hunter Leonard. It says, "All of creation obeys the words of Jesus, and at his voice, even the storms are still. Because when God speaks, something beautiful happens."
This line points to the familiar story in Matthew's Gospel when Jesus slept peacefully in the boat while His disciples grew more and more fearful during a violent storm on the water. They woke Him in a panic, convinced they were about to perish. Yet Jesus responded with peace. "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" He then rebuked the wind and the sea, and everything became calm (Matthew 8:24–26).
I expanded a bit more on this story in a blog I wrote two summers ago, Sleeping Jesus in the Boat. In it, I used the imagery of physical storms to illustrate that Jesus really is with us in the midst of our personal storms, even when He appears to be sleeping.
As you now know, I can be a bit dramatic, and one thing I am guilty of is allowing external factors to make the small storms I face seem much bigger than they really are. Did that person actually mean to offend me, or is my lack of sleep causing me to misinterpret their words? Is my impatience a side effect of being hungry and needing a snack? Is my phone, or even the podcast playing in the background, leaving me feeling overwhelmed, or do I truly have too much on my plate?
The real storm comes when I'm feeling unexplainably crabby or partnering with the lie that I am alone. Is it because I haven't made daily prayer a priority, and it feels as though Jesus is asleep in my life?
One of our greatest spiritual weapons is the gift of wisdom and the renewal of our minds. It can be so powerful to ask Jesus, the Prince of Peace, to be with me or ask God to reveal how He views the situation when I feel an inner storm brewing. At the sound of His voice, He can calm the greatest of storms in my heart and mind because when God speaks, something beautiful happens.
Until next time, your sister in Christ
Abby
P.S. If you are in need of gift ideas for any of the little people in your life, I highly recommend the book, When God Speaks. My family loves it! has been a great way to introduce my children to a few of the miracles we read about in the Bible, and teach them about our Catholic faith including the Eucharist!
Please consider supporting Catholic Country Chronicles by purchasing the book through this link!
