In these challenging times, the Steier Group wanted to share with you a word of spiritual encouragement. In the video below, Christopher Beaudet, Executive Vice President of Client Services, discusses the disciples’ journey through a tempest and Jesus’ message of faith through this challenge.
Beaudet brings to the Steier Group over a decade of experience and education in ecclesial ministry and pastoral care. He has provided numerous spiritual retreats and conferences to small groups as well as audiences of thousands. With a Master of Arts in Dogmatic Theology, a Master of Divinity, and a Doctorate in Canon Law (JCD), Christopher brings to our clients a theological perspective that not only raises financial support but also builds community, essential to advancing the Church’s mission. Christopher has served as Assistant Professor of Canon Law at the Saint Paul Seminary (St. Paul, Minnesota) and in administrative positions with the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
The Gospel of Mark recounts the disciples’ harrowing experience of a turbulent storm on the Sea of Galilee that seemed to become more threatening and disconcerting with each passing minute. Jesus “was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care if we perish?’ And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?’” (Mark 4:38-40).
All the world is facing the tempest that is COVID-19. What may have once been placid waters in our life is now churning and agitated. Fear is the result. Will we capsize? How long will the storm last? Will we sink? To our natural trepidation comes a tranquil reassurance, “Peace! Be still!” With these words, Jesus quelled not just the storm on the Sea of Galilee, but the far greater turbulence in the disciples’ hearts.
The question Jesus put to the disciples about their faith in times of crisis was not a rebuke for lacking it so much as a reminder to rest in it; to rest as he himself had rested in the midst of the same storm. The Steier Group is privileged to partner with communities of faith and in times like these, uncertain and threatening, we are invited to rely upon that same voice that reminds us that our faith in Christ affords us a great calm during trial, patience in duress, and perseverance in tribulation. We join you, our valued clients, in prayerful supplication that God aid and strengthen your faith family with the blessing of a great calm until this storm subsides. Our prayer is that you and we, together, may hear the voice of Jesus speak even now to our hearts: Peace! Be still!”
For more information about stewardship, fundraising and development during the coronavirus crisis, visit our COVID-19 toolkit.
