And in the process, there was a lot of wind. The 1st Reading saw Elijah encountering the storms of life. He was running away from a murderous Queen. But he was also running from the discouragement of his apparently failed ministry. Despite pouring himself into convincing the Israelite who the real God is, the people refused to repent and return to God. True to a God who is faithful, Elijah needed some assurance and vindication that his ministry was in accord with God’s will. He expected God’s vindication to come via the powerful winds, the shattering earthquakes and the blistering fire. But none conveyed God’s presence and instead, he discovered God’s consolation via the caress of the gentle breeze. God breaks through our preconceived ideas of how He is supposed to answer our prayers.
The same scenario is replayed in Paul’s experience. His fellow Jews struggled to come to terms that the awaited Messiah had already made His presence felt. Paul was even willing to embrace rejection if it meant that there was chance that the Jews came to their sense and accept Christ. Salvation came through the Jews but they were either too dense or too many proud to appreciate that.
Storms are basically storms and the Disciples were no different. When the disciples got into the boat, they were settling in but soon enough the storm overtook them and they were frightened by it. Christ entered the tumult and assured them. Peter, their leader, acting according to his character asked for confirmation. When Christ invited him to trust, instead of having a greater faith, Peter faltered. He could not hear the Lord amidst the whirling of the winds.
Life is never a garden of roses. It is messy and despite our meticulous planning, things can happen. What the message of both the 1st Reading and the Gospel is basically this. We can be overwhelmed by fear to the point that we lose sight of what is real. We can give in to fear to the point that we stop living.
That is not what Christ would have wanted for us. Whether we feel it or not, He is never far from us whenever a storm strikes. The irony of our capable world is that we seem to be more fearful. We want greater control over everything but we are unable to tame our fears. Weirdly so.
We struggle with issues of health, problems in our personal relationships and most of all, monetary constraints or worse financial ruin. When Peter sank, he cried out, “Lord, save me”. Of course, Peter momentarily lost sight of Christ near to him as the winds buffeted him. Nevertheless, he cried out and Jesus reached out to him.
We often miss God if we look for Him the spectacular. Of course, the spectacular is a reminder of God’s omnipotence and presence. See a huge Cathedral and be mesmerised by the sheer immensity. Stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon and be swept away by the sheer power of the wind and water that created the beautiful valleys and fast flowing rivers. Those are just spectacular and like the storms that distract we can be side-tracked to trying to find God in the grand gestures. Nothing is wrong with that.
What we might miss are the gentle caress of God in the ebbing waves. God is found in the silent and the quiet. Which brings us to an important point. How do we allow God to show Himself? If we keep looking for Him in the noisy we will not encounter Him. As St Augustine used to say, “My soul is restless, Lord, until it rests in you”. The rest is necessary if we want to encounter God. Take a step back. “Be still and know that I am God”. The quiet time before the Blessed Sacrament, takes us away from the kind of mentality which says, “I am in control, even of you God”. Without slowing down, it is not easy to sense God’s presence even though He is always there.
Escalators in some places move at incredible speed. You find them in places where people struggle for time. They need time to get more things done or they need more time for themselves etc. Somehow, the speed of how things move, cherished as a modern expression of life, is the same speed that one goes to death. We are dying, whether we like it or not. That we are constantly in a rush to be somewhere is emblematic of the rush to death. It is again ironical that we want to live forever and yet we are rushing to our death.
Perhaps this exercise is helpful. We may be given to fearfulness and that can be paralysing. If we can settle on a truth, perhaps we can do something about it. The truth or the inescapable reality is that there will be storms, like them or not. The path to heaven is never going to be rosy. If we accept this truth, perhaps another saying is essential. It is not the years we have that make life meaningful. Rather it is the living that gives our years meaning. If we trust that God has our back, we can perhaps get more out of life. Look for God but do not be distracted by the spectacular.