Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading news reports day after day can lead us into despondency, to the point where we might lose faith in the basic goodness in our world.  Good news seems to be buried alive in the tidal wave of evils that are reported.  Over and over again we are confronted by the actions and inactions of our government.  Instead of concrete solutions we hear nothing but the blame game going on among our nation’s leaders.

Added to that are the endless reports of violence in our cities, the horrors inflicted by terrorists in the Middle East, the sufferings of children from Latin America that are crossing our borders in order to escape the violence they face caused by the drug lords in their home countries.  I could go on and on but won’t.  We know we’re drowning in chaos.  We know we are carrying heavy burdens.  “Where is God in the midst of all this?” some ask.

Today’s first reading presents us with the prophet Elijah likewise in a state of despondency.  He was so miserable that he was asking God to let him die.  We find him here hiding in a cave, seeking shelter in solid rock.  But just as he finds shelter in a cave along comes an earthquake and then a hurricane that smashes the rocks and cliffs of the mountains, threatening to drown him in chaos.

“Where is God in all of this?” he was asking.  What is God saying to me in all of these events?  Elijah, however, couldn’t figure anything out until he was able to hear the voice of God in a tiny little whisper.  The voice of God came to him in the most unexpected of ways.  And so it is with us.

The disciples and Peter found themselves to be in similar circumstances, only this time out in an open boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee in a raging storm.  “Where is God in all of this?” they wondered.  Peter spoke up and said, “Lord, if it’s really you over there tell me to come to you across the water.”  Peter, we see, had his doubts too.

We find our own lives these days surrounded by chaos.  The floodwaters of social change along with the cultural earthquakes of our time, globalization, terrorism, and the energy crisis severely threaten us.  Drugs, absent fathers, divorce, child abuse, pornography, an unstable economy, and job loss are the storms and floodwaters that threaten us.  Teenage suicide is frequently reported.  “Where is God in all of this?” we cry.

Confidence is the word we need to take into our hearts and souls today.  Confidence.  Confidence comes from a Latin word which means “to believe with.”  We cannot have confidence when we’re isolated and all alone.  We cannot have confidence all by ourselves.  We can only have confidence when there’s an Other near us.  The Other that is God.

And that’s the point of today’s readings.  One can find confidence, even in the worst of storms, even in the most chaotic of times.  We can go through the worst that life can throw at us if only we keep up our contact with God.  Not sharing in the life of the church, in the Body of Christ?  No confidence.  Soon we’ll take our eyes off Jesus, and just like Peter, we will sink.  And without the voice of God to hold us steady, we, like Peter, will drown.

Is your life getting out of control?  Is your faith slipping away from you?  If so, here’s what you do.  Find a place of solitude and silence.  Go to your room and shut the door.  Or come into this church during the day and gather around you as much silence and solitude as you possibly can.  Then kneel down and in that solitude say: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

After all was said and done, God restored Elijah and eventually swept him up into heaven.  And after all was said and done, God in Christ saved Peter.  And God will do no less for us, if we have confidence in Christ, Christ consoling and challenging us, supporting and strengthening us especially through all the times, the weeks, the days and hours when we thought we didn’t have a chance.  Thank you, God, for without you, we don’t know what we’d do.

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor