As a parish gets bigger there are more and more demands on me as a priest and everyone working here. It always makes me think about the priesthood and what my work is about. To me the greatest privilege of being a priest is that I can bring Jesus to people in the Eucharist, wherever I am sent. This is the most important part of any priest’s work. Everything else is secondary, because the greatest gift the Lord has given us is the gift of himself, of his body and blood in the holy Eucharist. I am sure there are at least two reasons why He gives it to us. First, because He wants to be intimately part of our lives and everything we do. Second, because God knows how much we need his strength to make it through this life, which is difficult at the best of times and so He gives us his very self, which we can receive into our own bodies, every day if we wish. If we really believe this, then we can never say that we are on our own. The Lord is saying, ‘You are not on your own. I am here with you every step of the way.’
For the most part God’s presence among us is very subtle. It is easy to miss it and many people do miss it, thinking that God is not there at all. Think of how many people pass by a church each day and really believe that the body and blood of Jesus Christ is present there? Probably very few. The Lord seems to keep himself hidden from us.
The first reading about the prophet Elijah refers to this. Elijah is considered the greatest of the prophets and a man very close to God. God wanted to let him experience his presence and so He sent him to this cave on the mountain side. Then there was a great storm-force wind, something we can relate to in Florida. But it says that God was not in the storm. Then there was an earthquake and then a fire, all great signs of the power of nature which can be so frightening. The powers of nature remind us how small we are and how helpless. But it says that God wasn’t in these either. And then a very gentle breeze, or whispering sound and God’s presence was there. In some translations it says, ‘A still small, voice,’ something you could easily miss.
Why did God send the storm, the earthquake and the fire? I think that God is reminding us that his presence is very subtle and easy to miss, but just because God doesn’t come to us in the form of thunder and lightning, or something very dramatic, doesn’t mean that He is not there. How did Elijah know God was there in the gentle breeze? Because he was used to listening to God and he was able to recognize God’s presence. If he wasn’t paying attention, or only focused on what was dramatic, he could have missed it.
The powers of nature can be very frightening, as we know from hurricanes. But God is reminding us not to be focused on what is loud and dramatic, as that is not where we will find him. God is just as powerfully present, but we will not notice his voice unless we stop and listen. That is why it is good to try and be quiet when you come to the church before mass. We are about to encounter the all-powerful God, but we may not notice his presence if we are just talking. It is the same after we have received Communion. Try and be silent and listen. And it is not that we are listening for a message, or word, rather that we are being aware that we are in his presence. If you don’t stop and listen, you can miss it.
Then we have the wonderful image of the storm in the Gospel. Jesus comes walking across the water toward them. You can imagine how terrifying it would be to see someone walking on water if you were out at sea. Anyone would think it was a ghost. Then after asking Jesus to invite him to come across the water, Peter really does walk on water. I think that is the part that is easy to forget. Peter did walk on water, but when he took his focus off Jesus, he began to think rationally and that this couldn’t be happening and then he began to sink.
Just that event is a great image for what is happening around us. We are in a time of turmoil, with swirling clouds and stormy seas. All we hear about is the chaos and how terrible the world is and it feels like we are sinking. But the Lord is telling us to focus on him, not on the storm. When Peter focused on Jesus, he did what we say is impossible. As soon as he took his focus off Jesus and back to what was happening around him, he began to sink. The Lord is reminding us to do the same. If we continually focus on the storm around us, with all the negative voices of the media, telling us of the terrible things happening in our world, we will become overwhelmed and we will sink. If we focus on the Lord, we will see something completely different.
It is heartbreaking to see so much suicide around us, but I have no doubt that is at least partly because people have lost faith and they don’t know where to turn. As a result they become overwhelmed with the world and despair. What they need is what we have: Jesus. In St. John’s Gospel Jesus says ‘In the world you will have trouble, but do not be afraid, I have conquered the world’ (John 16:33). He didn’t say we would have it easy, but He tells us to stay focused on him and then we will get through whatever we have to face. He is not asking us to do it by ourselves, but with his strength.
Sometimes I think that it might be easier if the Lord’s presence was more dramatic. Then we would have no doubt about God being there. It would probably be terrifying, but for whatever reason, the Lord prefers to stay hidden from us. His coming to us in Holy Communion is a great example of this. How much more hidden can you get? Who would believe that God comes to us in a tiny piece of bread? It sounds completely crazy and to many people it is crazy, indeed too crazy to be true, but this is what Jesus himself has taught us and that is why we believe it is true. It is the Lord himself who has taught us this.
Perhaps when you come up to receive Holy Communion today, think of the gentle breeze that passed in front of the prophet Elijah. God was in that gentle breeze. Jesus is also present to us here in the tiny host of bread that we receive, which has become his Body and Blood. That’s also why we should try and receive it with the greatest reverence. It is not a symbol; it is the Body of Christ. That’s also why you should never walk away with it, but consume it when it is given to you and then listen for the still small voice.
To help us believe, the Lord keeps giving us signs and wonders. So many Eucharistic miracles. Here is just one.
In the church of St. Francis of Assisi in Siena, Italy, in 1730, on the eve of the feast of the Assumption (which will be this Monday), someone stole a ciborium from the tabernacle, which contained hundreds of hosts. As you can imagine people were very upset and searched everywhere for the hosts. The following day a lady in another church noticed some hosts sticking out of one of the poor boxes. They opened it and found the hosts. By now the hosts were dirty and covered in cobwebs. So they decided to leave them in a container to decay naturally. However, after several months they were still perfectly preserved and still smelled fresh. Today, almost 300 years later, they are still perfectly preserved and in a glass container for everyone to see.
Eucharistic miracles continue to happen all over the world right up to today. Many of them are where the host has actually turned into a piece of flesh. Scientific studies have shown each time that it is real human heart tissue, always with blood type AB. One of the more recent ones in Buenos Aires in 1996, showed that it was real human heart tissue, from the left ventricle of the heart and it was taken from a man who was under extreme stress, or badly beaten. The crucifixion.
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.
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