Where do we meet God? In the silence and in the storm.

Fr Dominic
Parish Priest

In the first reading today, we have Elijah hiding in a cave up the mountain of Horeb. He has shown his power and the power of God in a competition against 400 prophets of Baal. He won the competition and many of the people were coming back to worship the true God but Queen Jezebel was furious and she sent her soldiers to hunt Elijah down and kill him. When he had spent a night in the cave he was told to stand at the entrance and wait for the Lord. A mighty wind came, then an earthquake , and then a flaming fire but God was in none of them. Then came a gentle breeze and Elijah covered his face and came to the entrance of the cave to meet his God. Do we take time to meet God in the silences and quiet times in our lives or do we spend our time looking only for supernatural fireworks? We must remember that the Lord is a constant and sure part of our life all the time in the silences.

But there are also the storms. We may not be caught up storms like the apostles on the lake but we are all caught up in the storms of life, whether these storms have to do with children, marriage, finances, health emotional problems, work or other people. Our instinct when the storms come to is to think that God has abandoned us. This Gospel teaches us that the Lord is with us even and especially in the storms. Through the Sacraments, through the Church, through our time of prayer, the Lord says to us , “Get hold of yourselves. It is I. Do not be afraid. These readings today teach us that there are two places where the Lord is present that are part of our everyday life, the silence and the storm.