Whenever we are afraid of anything, it is important to remember that God is always in charge. Many people are afraid of thunderstorms because they are so loud and can be dangerous if we do not take cover from them, but whenever you truly understand in your heart the love that God has for you and the fact that He is in charge, even the "big, bad" thunderstorms will not make you afraid.

Why does God make thunderstorms if they can be so scary? There are probably many answers to this question, but one is that sometimes God uses thunderstorms to do good things. One example of this is when He answered the prayer of St. Scholastica by sending a thunderstorm.

St. Scholastica was a very faithful nun who loved God more than anyone or anything else. Her twin brother was St. Benedict, a very holy man who felt the same love for God that his sister had. St. Scholastica and St. Benedict were also the best of friends and loved to spend time together talking about the things of God. St. Benedict lived in a monastery and he could only visit with his sister about once a year, so St. Scholastica would come to meet her brother in a building just outside the gate of the monastery and they would talk together there.

Once when St. Scholastica went to visit St. Benedict he brought some of his students with him. After many hours of talking, it began to get dark and it was time for him and his students to go back to the monastery. It was very important that they be back on time unless there was a very good reason for them to be late, and visiting with St. Scholastica was not a good enough reason to be late! St. Benedict told his sister that he had to go back to his room, but she didn't want the visit to end. She tried to convince him not to go back just yet so that they could talk some more about their love for God, but he argued that he could not break the rule. St. Scholastica knew how important the rules of the monastery were to her brother.  She also respected the rules of the monastery and she knew that there was nothing in her own power that she could do to make the visit last longer, so St. Scholastica folded her hands on the table in front of her, laid her head on her hands and prayed.

As soon as St. Scholastica finished praying and raised her head, a very powerful and raging thunderstorm appeared. There was loud thunder, flashes of lightning and a terrific downpour of rain!  St. Benedict and the other men were unable to go back to the monastery! Knowing that his sister had prayed for the thunderstorm, St. Benedict said to her, "May God forgive you, sister. What have you done?" St. Scholastica said to him in reply, "I asked you and you would not listen, so I asked my God and He did listen." St. Benedict, St. Scholastica and the students spent the whole night talking as the storm raged on and they enjoyed it very much.

Three days later, St. Scholastica died, but the wonderful part is that St. Benedict was lying in his bed in his room in the monastery and he saw a vision of St. Scholastica's body and he saw her soul turn into a dove, fly out of her body and up to heaven. St. Benedict was very happy to see his sister going to heaven and he was very blessed by God that he was allowed to see it in a vision.

The Lesson of St. Scholastica and the Storm is that God sometimes uses storms to do wonderful things!  For this reason, we should not be afraid of thunderstorms. Instead, we should try to think of what might be happening somewhere miles away from us where someone else is being helped by the very same storm. Remember, also, that death is nothing at all for Christians to fear because it is then that our souls, like that of St. Scholastica, will be released from us and taken to the most wonderful place of all -- the throne of God in heaven with all the angels and saints.