 |
||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
|
 |
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
 |
||
|
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading I: 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a "Sounds of Silence." Oh that today you would listen to his voice, harden not your hearts. a. Those who pray the Divine Office each day begin with Psalm 95. Listen to the voice of the Lord. Today's first reading finds Elijah very far from the scene of the great
victory. Way up in the North close to present day border of Lebanon is the Town of Carmel. Elijah had defeated the 450 false prophets and had them killed. They were friends of Queen Jezebel who now sought to kill
the Prophet Elijah and so Elijah flees all the way south to the Mount where Moses had received the 10 commandments. These were commands given as a part of the covenant made by God with the Israelites. At that time
there were the usual phenomena in nature to signify God's presence: A great cloud, thunder and earthquake. The people knew that God was speaking to them. They were filled with wonder and awe. They trembled with
fear. Today once again God has a message for the people and Elijah is the messenger. God speaks. There is usual accompaniment of Thunder, Lightning, Earthquake. But God seems to be strangely silent in all of nature's wonders. Then there is a soft breeze and it is here that God would speak to Elijah. b. God is no longer speaking in fixed parameters. God is no longer giving them a message in the ways to which they were accustomed. God encounters his people in unexpected ways, and at inconvenient times. In the letter to the Hebrews, the writer tells us: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” c. Jesus speaks to us in different ways as we see in the Gospel, but the Psalm still holds good: "Oh that today, you would listen to His voice, harden not your hearts" The circumstances of Jesus and his disciples are in utter contrast. He is up on the mountain, the traditional understanding of the meeting place with the Divine. He is calm. He is at prayer. The Disciples meanwhile are in the midst of the troubles of their every day world, they are tossed and thrown around by the vicissitudes, the troubles of daily living. They flounder and they do not seem to have much hope. How easily we can relate to them. We seek God We want peace and harmony We want to live without strife in a world which everyday is turning into a war zone. And like the Apostles, Jesus is never far from us. Oh if today we would listen to his voice. But we are reluctant to hear his call. We know he is going to call us to walk on the water like Peter. We are being invited to think and act "outside the box". In the words of the Man from La Mancha We are called to dream the impossible dream We are called to fight the unbeatable foe. We are called to go where the brave dare not go. We are called to march into Hell for a heavenly cause. d. Jesus gives us a model by his own life and through the life of his apostles. St. Paul who calls himself the least of the Apostle is concerned about the safety of his "Christians". He writes in the letter to the Romans, that they are an extraordinary people. They are children by adoption. They have received the glory, the promises, the covenant. What more could they ask for. Yet they have treated these gifts with a carelessness and disregard. Paul is willing to march into Hell for a heavenly cause. He says that he is willing to risk his guaranteed salvation and even be cut off from Christ for the sake of saving these dear fellow Christians. We of course know from the words of Christ: "he who looses his life for my sake will save it." Like Paul most of the parents and grandparents are also concerned about the faith practices of their children and grandchildren. They are bothered about their not going to church regularly, about the children who remain unbaptized, who do not marry but simply live together. And if they do marry, they do not seem to be too concerned - whether it is in the church, in the civil registrar or they are quite happy to "rent a reverend". And then there are other invitations of the Lord that we do not want to hear: · To share our bread with the hungry · To forgive those who have hurt us · To reach out to those who are different from us: in skin colour, accent, bank accounts, education, · To walk the extra mile with a friend who is “a pain in the neck” Our challenge is to Listen to the voice of the Lord. We need to hear the voice of our own conscience - and not just to Rome for every decision, for every problem. As recently as 28th July, Benedict the 16 said "The history of the Church has always been marked, in various different forms, by questions that have truly tormented us. What must be done? ... I would like to respond briefly, but I would also like to point out that the Pope is not an oracle, he is infallible only in very rare situations, as we know." Parable: And so man went to God and said: Speak to me ! And a meadowlark sung in the heavens. But Man did not hear. And man shouted at God and said: Speak to me ! And there was thunder and lightning and the earth shook. But Man did not hear. And the man said to God show me a miracle. And a baby was born. But the Man did not see. And the man said to God, touch me. A butterfly alighted on the man's brow. He brushed it and went his way. God is constantly speaking to us - in ways we did not even imagine. Oh that today you would listen to God's word, harden not your hearts. |
||
