Homily -- 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: 1 Kgs 19:9. 11-13; Rom 9:1-5; Mt 14:22-33

We sometimes hear people say, “I don’t have to go to church to find God”. There is truth in that statement- we can find God anywhere. But it’s also true to say that “If we haven’t already found God outside the Church, we won’t find him inside it either.” We do not come to church to find God- we come here to celebrate the many ways that we have already found God to be present in our daily experience. If we don’t find God there, we won’t find him in church either. We cannot be atheists in our daily lives, and believers in Church. If we are not open to God’s presence in every experience of our day, then it’s unlikely that God has ever really been able to touch us. 

In the first reading, we hear about the prophet Elijah’s search for God in the midst of catastrophic human loss. Let me briefly give the background to this passage. 

Elijah was one of the great prophets of Israel, a powerful and successful preacher of God’s word. The king had married a foreign queen, Jezebel, and when Elijah and some other prophets opposed the pagan worship, she had introduced, the queen vowed to kill them all. This she did, except for Elijah, who fled for his life into the southern desert. There, he lay down under a broom tree and fell into a deep depression. He asked Yahweh to let him die there, because it seemed that his life had been a failure. The worship of Yahweh had been abolished throughout the land, the people had turned to false gods, and now, Jezebel’s men were tracking him down to kill him. All the status and security he had enjoyed in his call and in his powerful prophetic ministry had vanished. But an angel came and gave him food, he was encouraged. And, after a good sleep, he rose up and walked the long journey southwards until he came to the Mount Sinai, where Yahweh had appeared to Moses at the time of the Exodus.

Elijah’s insecurity returned doubts about himself and doubts about the God who he was called to serve. That’s what happens to many of us too when things are going badly. Elijah remembered the Exodus stories about God’s appearance to Moses on Mount Sinai in wind, earthquake, and fire. He decided to test things out. This is where we come to the first reading we just heard. Yahweh told Elijah that he would reveal himself on the mountain once again. We can imagine Elijah’s excitement as he stood there, expecting a mighty upheaval of nature such as Moses had witnessed. But instead, the presence of God was not in nature’s fireworks –this time it was revealed in a tiny whispering sound. 

In today’s gospel passage from St. Matthew, we notice that Jesus needed time to be alone with God. So, he went up on a mountain to pray. The human side of Jesus needed the quiet and the stillness of nature to be the environment in which to hear the whisper of his Father’s voice! 

This Sunday’s readings evoke the possibility of finding the presence of God within silence or storm. Elijah finds the divine presence in a whispering sound while Peter finds it while drowning in a storm. The prophet and the disciple are both able to listen to the divine voice regardless of the circumstances, in clam or in chaos. Elijah and Peter hear a call to become fully themselves as servants of the Lord, a role Peter cannot doubt, and from which Elijah cannot run. 

We must always be on our guard not to limit God – or the way He works. Our major problem today, regarding this, is all the noise – the “loud” noise of the TV and the cell phone – the “silent” noise of the computer and text messaging! Consequently, we all need to create silent time and quiet space to be able to hear the voice of God. Hopefully, we can do this so that we are able to hear the whisper of God in our deepest selves.