Elijah, Peter, and Ourselves: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Elijah and Peter have similar experiences

·      Elijah on the high of a mountain, in a cave

o   Seeing some dominant and chaotic stuff

o   Wind, that crushed rocks

o   Earthquake—what? Imagine that one…could you be crushed or falling down and simply die?

o   Fire

o   “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.”

·      Now Peter’s experience

o   Jesus was walking on water and they thought he was a ghost!

o   Peter, with his headstrong individual asked to walk on water: “Come”

§  He did so, then, similar to Elijah, “Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened;”

§  By the way…isn’t this us today?

§  “…beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter,
and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?””

§  And this too?

Now, aren’t some of us like Elijah, strong, faithful, and trust in what he saw and how he reacted?

·      Aren’t some of us acting like Peter, wanting to walk on water, focusing to Jesus Christ, but realizing our fear with all the challenges we see, like the wind, like the storm, like the waves?

·      Or, aren’t most of us doing both?

“Lord, save us!”  And he will

Or, “Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.”

And he wants to do that too!