Elijah and Peter, silence and focus on Jesus: 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

            This past week I came across a quote from St. John Paul II in my personal prayer that fits our readings well today.  As a cardinal in Poland he told one of his friends: “The more deeply people develop within themselves in their interior life, the more prone they are to silence…Every great work, all holiness, is born in silence and recollection…Only falsehood wraps itself in a flood of words.  Truth is brief.” 

            We live in a noisy world.  Advertisements, television, screen time, texting, tweeting and facebooking clutter almost every second of our day.  Two weeks ago I encouraged you to take an inventory of how you spend the 168 hours a week God gives you.  In a similar vein—how much time do you spend in silence each day?

            Silence is healthy.  This is especially true when it comes to our spiritual lives, and I will get to that in a moment.  Silence is healthy for our minds and bodies.  We need rest and relaxation.  Whether it is in a fishing boat, out in the woods, on a walk, gardening or other forms of recreation, give yourself permission to seek solitude every day—even if it is for a few minutes.

            The scene of the prophet Elijah on the Mount Horeb—the mountain of God—illustrates the importance of silence.  Elijah was promised that he would perceive the presence of God.  He observed three incredibly powerful phenomena—wind, an earthquake and fire.  Elsewhere in the Old Testament God did appear in His strength and glory with wind, earthquakes or fire.  Yet God did not appear to Elijah in such manifestations.  “After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.  When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.”  God came to Elijah in silence.

            When it comes to our faith, we may often be motivated by emotions.  Naturally we seek consolation in mountain-top experiences—a retreat, powerful speaker, spiritual renewal and the like.  While God is present in such experiences, He is more often observed in the quiet of our hearts when we make time simply to be quiet before Him. 

            The Gospel tells a parallel story.  Imagine if you were on Rainy Lake in the middle of the night and a storm rocked your boat.  If you saw a man walking towards you on the water, you would also cry out: “It is a ghost!”  Jesus, though is no ghost and he approaches the disciples.  Peter—always the adventurer—asks Jesus to prove his identity by inviting him to walk on the water.  Peter gets out of the boat, looks at Jesus and a miracle occurs.

            Yet almost immediately, Peter took his eyes off Jesus and saw the wind, waves and storm at hand.  He lost focus on Christ and was distracted by the chaos around him and he began to sink.

            This account holds a similar lesson for us to that of Elijah on the mountain.  Here we learn that when we lock our eyes with Jesus, miracles can and will occur.  When we are overcome by the winds of unemployment, the waves of illness or the storms that will occur in our lives, we begin to sink.  Jesus, always faithful to us, will pull us up if we cry out like Peter, “Lord, save me!”  He will pick us up to remain focused on him once more.

            Cultivate silence in your lives and hearts.  No time devoted to God in such a way will be wasted.  In fact, seeking God in the solitude will help us live more abundant lives.