The Voice of God

Unlike Peter, we’ll not likely be invited to walk on water but just like Peter, we are invited every day to trust  that it is the Lord speaking to us, calling us to do what we’re not sure we can do.

So, as I began, let me close, with a few questions…

1) Whose voice in our lives do we turn to most frequently for advice and guidance, for answers to our questions?

2) Regardless of where we turn for advice, whose voice in our lives actually has the most impact on our thinking, our choices and decisions?

3) What voices in our lives are in competition for our attention and voice usually wins?

Why Walk on Water?

What is Peter doing walking on water! Now I know that it is frightening to cling to a little boat in the midst of the storm. But isn’t stepping out of that boat onto the waves complete madness? Why would Peter leave the relative security of the boat and set out on his own onto the sea? Peter leaves the boat and sets out into the storm, because he knows that Jesus is there. In doing this, Peter gives us an example of discipleship. The disciple always realizes that the safest place to be is close to the Lord. Even though a boat might be keeping us afloat, that boat could sink. And when it comes to sinking, we want to be close to Jesus. The gospel shows us that Peter’s decision was right. Because when he begins to sink, Jesus stretches out his hand and catches him.

The Tiny Whispering Sound

There is noise around us. We are so accustomed to it that we don’t even notice it. We may be living near a busy road, but we tend to tune out the traffic. I taught high school for three years in East Boston, right on the final approach to Logan Airport. We were all used to the jets. We just tuned them out. We tend to tune out the external noise, but we don’t make as much of an effort to tune out the internal noise. W e let our thoughts ramble in prayer. We let our minds fly attempting to solve a problem. We need to quiet ourselves down. We need to free ourselves for quiet time. We need to make a prayer space in our homes or in our rooms, a space where we can just focus in on God. This is more than freedom from external noise. We need to allow ourselves to experience the internal quiet and peace that comes from being in the Presence of God.

That is the simple message of today’s first reading. God is present for each of us. He speaks to each of us. We just need to do a better job listening to Him.

Fix Your Focus – A Homily for the 19th Sunday of the Year - Community in Mission

Although I am currently resting and offline, I am posting this homily from three years ago with the help of a friend. The Gospel today is about faith and about focus. It teaches that although storms and struggles inevitably arise, we have a choice as to whether we focus on them or on Jesus. The … Continue reading "Fix Your Focus – A Homily for the 19th Sunday of the Year"

Community in Mission

Let’s look at this Gospel in three stages.  I have also included a fourth section for more in-depth study

1. Perceived Distance
2. Produced Distress
3. Points of Decision
4. Process of Development

Into the Depths of Our Heart

In a world like ours where we are surrounded constantly by  noise and chaos, it is necessary to enter into the depths of our own hearts and there, in the silence and darkness within, come to hear the voice of the Lord.  The problem for most people is learning to remain near the cave of our hearts while the chaos swirls around us.  St. Peter serves as an example of how things work in this way.  When he begins to walk on the water, Peter keeps his focus on Jesus and walks across the water with no problem.  When his attention is taken from Jesus because of the wind, he sinks.

The Sound of Silence

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The god of convenience

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The beauty of the Incarnation is that Jesus resembles all of us while resembling none of us. That tension is the secret to really knowing Jesus. The Incarnated Word makes known to us the face of the Invisible God. By sending His Son into the world on Christmas, God upended everything. In revealing the Truth about Himself, He exploded all the false images based on speculation and human projections, overturned all our presumptions and revolutionise the way we should view the world. His Truth calls us to take a step forward in faith, to view things not from our perspective but from His. If this Truth does not change your mind on a regular basis, then the god that you worship is not God. Your god is the convenience of belief.

Clergy E-Notes

In his long journey, Elijah did not encounter God in heavy wind, earthquake, or fire, but unexpectedly in “a sound of sheer silence”. How true that many of the most important things in life – falling in love, the first stirrings of conscience and remorse, the conception of a child – occur in this silent way, without fanfare.

Thus, the Lord is faithful in coming to us, albeit in ways we might least expect.

Just as Our Lord appeared to His disciples walking on the sea, He can likewise appear to us in an unexpected illness or unplanned pregnancy, events which at the time may feel like being battered by waves and buffeted by strong winds. We too, like Peter, may want to cry out, “Lord, save me!”

Our hearts, like Elijah’s, must be open to receive Him, however He appears. We must heed Jesus’s advice to “not be afraid” nor doubt or fear, but to have great faith. Surely Jesus will reach out His hand and catch us. Let us say with deep faith, “Jesus I trust in you!”

Look Unto Jesus

In our struggle, we should know and keep comfort and courage in mind. We can take comfort, knowing that Jesus is praying for us during the storm. We can take courage, knowing that His coming will bring us great peace. However, such comfort and courage will only come to those who are willing to serve Him now. Are you in the “boat” and “rowing” in the service of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

Life is all about taking and bearing risks. Most people avoid taking risks. Peter had the choice of remaining in the boat’s “comfort zone” or of moving on the rough sea with Jesus. He chose to walk with Jesus. And he began sinking. If you want to walk on the water, you must come out of the boat and strive to imitate Christ. So always look unto Jesus instead of thinking of sinking.

Not Color Blind But Color Blessed

Bottom line: We stand in awe of what God did in forming the Jewish people and we rejoice that in Christ we can become grafted on to that race. And that race is color blessed.

Today St. Paul speaks about “my own people, my kindred according to the flesh.” He is referring, of course to the Jewish people. Before talking about what the Jewish race means to us, I’d like to say a word about the issue of race today.

Pastor Rick Warren wrote: “Some people say, ‘When I look at people, I don’t see race. I don’t see their color.'” Pastor Warren responds, “There’s a word for that: liar! Nobody is colorblind when it comes to race. And God doesn’t want you to be colorblind. He wants you to be color blessed.”

That struck a cord with me. When I went to Stanwood High, we weren’t exactly white. More a pale pink. I am happy our society has become color blessed. One of the great things about Hispanic ministry is the mixture of races and colors. Here at St. Mary of the Valley, we are color blessed.

Growing Through Trials Like Peter

It has been said that we have a crisis every year and a major crisis every decade. Hopefully during every trial we grow and mature so that we are better able to cope with the next trial. The disciples of Jesus in the Gospel today suffered a crisis when they thought they saw a ghost walking towards them on the lake (Matt 14:22-33). They did not cope well with their crisis; they were terrified and cried out in fear. Peter also endured a crisis when he began to walk on the water and felt the force of the wind and took fright. Jesus addressed both these crises. Firstly to the disciples, Jesus said, “Take courage; it is I. Do not be afraid.” (Matt 14:27) Then to Peter after rescuing him, Jesus said, “Man of little faith why did you doubt.” (Matt 14:31)

When Everything Around Us Is Crashing

Today’s Gospel takes us to the very heart of our Christian faith. How often we find ourselves unable to cope. Everything around us is crashing in on us and we feel we are being overwhelmed. We are afraid and when we pray, God seems to be far away. There is no answer. That is the situation of the apostles in the boat out on the lake.

Matthew presents this portrait for his community which was in a similar situation. Refugees were pouring in from Judea, trying to escape the war with the occupying Roman army. As Jews who had joined the Christian community, they were being accused of failing to support the Jewish cause. Jesus had taught them to forgive and to work for peace, and now, over and above the terrible Roman-Jewish war, their fellow Jews and members of their own family were turning against them. Incidentally, some of the pain of this is expressed in today’s beautiful Second Reading in which Paul expresses the suffering he experienced because of his fellow Jews who did not open their minds and hearts to Jesus and to the community of Jesus’ disciples who were experiencing the fulfilment of the dreams and hopes of Israel.

God in the Quiet and in the Chaos

lijah, having been promised that he would find the Lord on the mountain, left the shelter of his cave. Sure enough, God showed up, but not in mighty gales or crashing rocks. The Lord was not even encountered in the earthquake or the fiery extravaganza. It was a tiny whispering voice that made Elijah cover his face in the presence of the Most High. Elijah was called in the quiet.

Peter and his companions, tossed about by waves and wind, saw the Lord as a ghost upon the water and were terrified. The voice over the tumult said: “Get hold of yourselves! It is I! Do not be afraid!” Peter heard the call to cross the raging waters. But daunted by the strength of the wind and his own frailty, he began to sink in fear. Even so, despite his going under, Peter was called to faith in the midst of turmoil.

Tohu wa bohu

My friends, to understand what is going on in the Gospel, we must start at the beginning! And so, the bible begins, “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss while a mighty wind swept over the waters.” The early Jewish and Christian sensibility regarding the first sentence in the bible involves an interesting Hebrew term that is found there. Some of you might have heard this from me before; however, repetition is how we master concepts. And I think with everything going on in the world today, this is a helpful concept to cover again. The Hebrew for “formless wasteland” is … tohu wa bohu, literally welter and waste. It is a great word that rolls nicely off the tongue, tohu wa bohu. Let’s all say it together…Tohu wa bohu, welter and waste, formless wasteland, it all basically means the same thing, primordial chaos. Parents can have a lot of fun with this word. Moms can now walk into their children’s bedrooms and say, clean up this tohu wa bohu right now!

My Conscience bears Me Witness

My conscience bears me witness.

We all know of Paul’s encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus and how that encounter radically changed his life.  The man who was so zealous in his persecution of the early church bec…

The Alternate Path