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_{12th Sunday of Ordinary Time
June 21, 2009} 

Those of you who were living during those unforgettable days of World War II may recall a poem called "Conversion."  Movie stars quoted it at bond rallies.  Politicians cited it on the floor of Congress.  Disc jockeys read it against a patriotic musical background on radio stations.

In the jungles of the South Pacific, the poem was found tacked to trees.  In England, a handwritten copy was found in the pocket of a badly wounded turret gunner, pulled from a crashed plane.  On D-Day, a chaplain found it clutched in the hands of dying soldiers on Normandy Beach.

One critic said of the poem:  "Its appeal is its simple expression of a great spiritual truth in a way that people of that era could relate to."  Unless we transport ourselves back to an era far less sophisticated that our own...when thousands of soldiers were dying daily...we may find it hard to appreciate or relate to.

The poem was written by Frances Angermayer of Kansas City, in the early morning hours of June 3, 1943.  It was a hot night and she couldn’t sleep.  She began thinking about her brother who was serving in the Army.  Then her thoughts drifted to the thousands of other young men who would be going into battle that night and maybe not returning. 

She wondered what a soldier who had never prayed before might say to God before going into a dangerous battle.  She got out of bed and wrote the poem "Conversion."  Little did she dream that it would touch the hearts of millions! 

The poem reads:

"Look, God, I have never spoken to you...You see, God, they told me you didn't exist...And like a fool I believed all of this. 

Last night from a shell hole I saw your sky...I figured right then they had told me a lie.

Funny I had to come to this hellish place, before I had the time to see your face...But I'm sure glad, God, I met you today.

The signal!  Well, God, I'll have to go.  Look now, this will be a horrible fight.  Who knows I may come to your house tonight.  Though I wasn’t friendly with you before, I wonder, God, if you’d wait at your door.

Look, I'm crying!  Me! Shedding tears!  I wish I’d known you these many years.  Strange, since I met You, I’m not afraid to die."

That poem was written over 65 years ago.  But the message contained in the poem and in the story behind it is just as relevant today as it was the night it was written.  You don't have to be a war veteran either!  It is the same message contained in today’s readings, especially Mark's Gospel.

There comes a time in every life when we find ourselves in a situation that is beyond our ability to control or cope with.  Like the disciples during their storm at sea, all of us have experienced terrible storms in our own life.  Maybe not storms at sea involving high winds and huge waves, but storms nonetheless.

For example, it may be a spiritual storm that threatens to blow out the light of our faith in God.  It may be an emotional storm that threatens to destroy our marriage or an important relationship with someone we love and care about deeply.  Or it may be a psychological storm, a misunderstanding that is hard to deal with.

The storms of life can blow up and can become life-threatening, driving us further from God and ending in spiritual death.  Or they can draw us closer to God, becoming a source of new spiritual life.

The difference between a storm that draws us closer to God and one that drives us further away is doing what Frances Angermayer did...and what the apostles did.  They prayed.  But it is not just any prayer.  It is the kind of prayer that Jesus taught his followers to pray.

It is the kind of prayer that places all our trust in God.  It is the kind of prayer that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane when he said to his Father, "Not my will...but your will be done."  It is the kind of prayer that completely trusts that God knows what is best for us.  It is the kind of prayer that Jesus had in mind when he said to his disciples, "Ask and you will receive."

We may not receive in the way we prayed for or anticipated, but our prayer will always be answered.  When storms blow up in our lives let us always remember to pray, trusting that God will answer them in his time and in a way befitting God’s infinite wisdom and infinite love!

"Those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed.  They will rise on wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow weak."

                                                          Isaiah 40:31