Homilies | Father Nathan

Father Nathan | Homily

Today’s Readings for Mass During the Day:

First Reading — 1 Kings 19:9A, 11-13

Responsorial Psalm — PS 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14

Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

Second Reading — ROM 9:1-5

Gospel Reading — MT 14:22-33

Have Trust and Faith in Our Loving God

The readings for this week speak of God’s saving presence among His people, our need for trusting Faith in our loving and providing God Who always keeps us company, and our need for prayer in storms of life.

Symbols in the Gospel

If taken literally the gospel story has little or no relevance for us. But it seems that Mathew meant to be taken symbolically. The boat represents the church; the wind and waves stand for the persecutions that had been let loose on the early Christians.

Jesus is not with them physically; he is in heaven, praying to the father. However, in their hour of need, he makes his presence felt among them thus calming their fears and bringing them peace. Understood like this, the story has great relevance for us.

Some people think that if you have enough faith, life will be all plain smooth sailing for you. But this is not so.  Faith doesn’t shield us from the hard knocks of life and death. We read from the first reading,

First Reading

The first reading (1 Kg 19:9, 11-13) explained: After Solomon’s death (922 BC), the northern tribes broke away from Judah, from its priests and from the Temple in Jerusalem. They formed an independent country called Israel, centered in the city of Samaria.

As years rolled by, many of these Jews lost their faith in Yahweh. Their seventh king Ahab (869-850 BC) married Jezebel, the daughter of the pagan king of Tyre. He allowed her to build a temple for her god Baal, then encouraged, and himself took part in idol-worship and immorality.

The prophet Elijah was sent by Yahweh to Israel to bring His people back to true worship. Elijah’s trusting Faith in the power and presence of Yahweh enabled him to defeat and execute the 450 pagan priests of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kgs. 18:16-40).

Consequently, Queen Jezebel sent murderous henchmen after the prophet. Elijah, sustained by food provided by God through an angel, fled for forty days and nights. He finally reached Horeb, the mountain where God had earlier established His covenant with Israel under Moses.

Elijah might have expected a spectacular miracle from God to protect and vindicate him, or an appearance of God with great power in thunder and lightning to bolster his Faith, like the one Moses had been granted on that very spot (Exodus 19:16-19).

However, the presence of God was not in the spectacles of thunder, earthquake, or fire but in “a tiny whispering sound”. Elijah acknowledged God’s presence by covering his face and coming out of the cave where he had taken shelter. He was content with God’s quiet sign of His presence and was consoled, trusting that his God was helping and protecting him.

Like Elijah, we can miss God’s presence by limiting our experience of Him to certain places and persons and forgetting that He is everywhere. The first reading reminds us that we have to experience God’s presence in our lives and listen carefully to everything going on around us because we encounter God in insignificant as well as spectacular events.  Failure, as well as success, offers us the opportunity for growth in trusting Faith in a loving and providing God.

It’s comforting for us to see that at times the apostles and the early Christians were weak and fearful. In other words, they were just like us. At the start of an adventure, we may be convinced that we are full of faith. However, as we go along, and difficulties arise, we discover that we have very little faith; it is then that we have turned to the Lord for help. It is in our weak moments that we experience that strength of God. If we never felt ourselves going under, then we would never know the rescuing power of God.

Faith doesn’t save us from the trials and tribulations. What it does is give us the strength to face them. The person who has faith has a source of strength and inspiration, especially when trouble strikes. It is not we who keep the faith. It’s the faith that keeps us. A person with a grain of faith in God never loses hope.

The person without faith, on the other hand, has nowhere to turn when trouble strikes. She/he utterly alone, with neither comfort nor inspiration.

The story shows us the power of faith. It shows us that what Jesus always does is his people. When the wind is contrary and they are in danger of being overwhelmed by the storms of life.

To those with faith, Jesus is NOT a ghost from the past. He is the son of God, who is present with us, and that grace upholds us when things are too much for us.

Have a Blessed Week,

Fr. Nathan