The blog opens with a painting by Ludolf Backhyusen used by the Ignatias.NYC in a newsletter.

In 1999 The Printery House published an icon called Storm on the Sea of Galilee. I was so impressed, I bought myself an 8 x 10 copy. It hangs on my office wall.

You could order 25 card copies at https://www.printeryhouse.org/ProdPage.asp?prod=PCA504&tracker1=REL. Also larger reproductions at https://www.printeryhouse.org/ProdPage.asp?prod=A04

I was asked to write a devotional for our crochet and knitting group of Convent Associates. I chose this icon and the meditation below. The Matthew 8 story seemed to be surfacing in many places all at once , so it seems timely.

I have been re-reading The Cry of the Deer by David Adam, Meditations on the Hymn of St. Patrick. At the end of chapter entitled “Death is Not Fatal” Adam has Exercises. This one goes with the icon!

Meditate on Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Make an affirmation by reading very slowly, giving meaning to each word. The Lord is my Shepherd . . .

Then read Matthew 8:23-27

Pause		Be still and know that He is God and that He is present … peace … etc …
Picture	A calm lake, beauty, a lovely place.
	Allow a storm to hit it. 
	A violent storm. The waves are wild, the wind is fierce.
	Trees are bending, branches are breaking.
	It gets dark. Things get worse. 
	Things are really out of control. Chaos.
	Then . . .
	A still small voice.
	It pierces the storm and somehow triumphs over it.

	Peace be still. 
	And there was a great calm.
	Who would have believed it a minute ago?
	It was like the end of the world . . . everything
	doom and disaster and
	now
	the still waters.

Ponder	This is not a picture of a lake. It is my life.
	Stormy, tempestuous, violent.
	Strange, unpredictable winds blow.
	Many a time we are in danger of sinking.
	So many storms are because we ‘go it alone.’
	We do not call upon Him. And Jesus sleeps.
	“O what peace we often forfeit,
	O what needless pain we bear,
	All because we do not carry
	Everything to God in prayer.”
	“Save us, Lord!” they said “We are about to die!”
	Wake Him.
	Call upon Him.
	Know that He is the Lord and Saviour.”
Promise	To wake His Presence in my life.
	Promise to call upon Him in my need: “To Thy Cross I look and live.”
	Affirm: “With Jesus in my vessel I can smile amid the storm.”

Prayer	“Lord Jesus, the sea is so large and our boat is so small.”
	“Lord, save us or we perish.

I arise today 
Through the strength of his death and burial.

I give absolutely all credit to David Adam for this meditation.