By Fr Antony Christy SDB –
GOD IS.
The invitation to Meet God…
August 9, 2020: 19th Sunday in Ordinary time
1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33
The ongoing pandemic and the surrounding crises have shaken the entire world to its core. There are nostalgic sighs for a normal life and there are some who say there would be no return to normal, and even if we did, we would return to a ‘new normal’… these are indeed disturbing and discouraging moments. Apart from the disease, infection, contagion and death themselves, there are the migratory, economic and work-related issues. And for a great many, even a daily living is an issue today! Would this end? Are we already in the peak, that we can expect some relief down the turn? These are gnawing questions today in every mind. Leave alone the pandemic, the panic and the pandemonium it creates, what about the daily struggles that we have in the so-called ‘normal’ life? Where does our faith fit in with all these? These are the questions that fill our mind as we reflect on the readings of today. Certainly, as we read the Gospel today, we cannot but recollect that unforgettable scene of Pope Francis praying for the pandemic-stricken world in the empty St. Peter’s Square, with this same episode from the Gospel…that image will remain on the pages of human history forever!
Lightening that thought… let us have a look at this experience…
It was a Religion class and the professor entered the class and wrote on the board: God is… and turned to the students and said, ‘can some of you try completing that statement?’ and asked them to come over to the board to complete it. Many tried replacing those dots with things like, God is …love, Great, merciful and so on. Some ironically tried completing it with things like, God is …absent, dead, forgotten, unnecessary, useless and so on! The professor at the end of it all smiled at them and said: ‘I can complete that sentence even without touching a piece of chalk.’ He went to the board and rubbed off the last two dots… and it read: God is. Not only grammatically, even theologically it is a perfect and complete sentence!
Whether joys or sorrows, trials or triumphs, celebrations or temptations, successes or struggles, THE LORD IS. God is with us! God is present with us and God walks beside our tossed boats. God speaks to us in gentle whispers and caresses in our moments of discernment and decision making. In moments of struggles and strivings he is there as our stronghold. How convinced are we about the Lord’s presence with us at all moments: For all seasons… God IS.
However, it is our responsibility to meet God…
We are invited to meet God IN THE CALM OF OUR LIFE. At moments when everything is calm and quiet, serene and simple, we tend to miss the presence of God. Grateful hearts behold that presence instantly and childlike spirits rejoice in that quietude. The Lord invites us through Prophet Elijah to behold the Lord in the “sound of sheer silence” (as the NRSV translation phrases it 1 Kgs 19:13).
Isn’t that true, when we enjoy good health, we do not even think about out health, but when we are down with a simple fever or headache, our health is all the time on our minds! May be, when we are in good health, if only we pay attention to our bodily self, with balanced diet, sufficient exercise, good and regular daily habits…how much good it would do, even if a moment of sickness should come our way! Let us not extend that analogy too much, but the point is this: as the Ecclesiastes tell us – remember your creator, before the days of trouble come! God is…right there on our side, all our life. We need not wait for a trouble, or a crisis to call out to God.
We are invited to meet God IN THE STORM OF OUR DAYS. Of course, there are days of struggle. These days of crisis apart, our lives never lack moments when storm clouds batter against our weak spirits. We shall not be moved, if we are sure of the Lord who is present with us. We shall remain strong and composed if we know that the Lord is around even if we are not able to ‘see’ God because of the darkness that surrounds and because of the deafening noise that threatens. At times we may be misled to look at God and suspect God to be a ghost, that is looking at things that are happening and villainise God, blaming God for every misery that is around. When things are settled, at hindsight we will recognise how good God is and how God has been with us all through those moments.
But our regular habits serve us at particular moments of need. Imagine if we have been feeling the presence of God close to us all through our regular routine of daily life, if we have lived the days with the Lord and surrendered our nights to God’s protection every day, if we have been cultivating an ongoing relationship with God as a person who walks beside me every day… will it be difficult for me to gather God’s presence when I have a trouble? Will it be tough for me to hear the Lord whisper into my ears: fear not, I am around! How blessed it would be to feel the Lord close when there is storm all around, for the Lord alone can rebuke the storm, we can only stand around and shiver.
We are invited to meet God AS THE NORM OF OUR LIFE. In the calm of our life or in the storm of our days, we are invited to encounter the Lord as the norm of our lives! The episodes of life and miracles of Christ in the Gospels are not merely wonders and showpieces, for us to look and marvel at. They are lessons to be learnt, ways to be adopted – to live our life like him, with him and in him. In the second reading, St. Paul cries over the numerous signs that the Lord gave the Jews, which they utterly missed and totally squandered.
At times we may do the same too… miss it all. How many opportunities we get to learn on a daily basis! Let them alone, how many warnings we get in and through events that happen: ecological crisis, criminalities, war cries, terrorism, imbalanced depletion of resources, improper priorities and choices at the national and international levels, suffering humanity, abandoned sections of people… are all these not lessons for us to see and learn, for ourselves and for the entire humanity, for today and forever! Let us not miss the lessons that come through on a daily basis… the Lord is our norm. We need to grow in God’s image each and every day.
The Lord’s invitation resounds as it does to Elijah, “Go out, stand and watch! the Lord shall be passing by! Don’t let the Lord pass by.” St. Augustine makes that inspiring statement in this regard: I fear the Lord, passing by. Let us behold the Lord always, because for all seasons, God is!!!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.