Sunday Readings for August 8-9, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Jack Treloar | For On Mission
The first reading this week tells us two things about our relationship to God. First, God works even in the tiniest of things. Second, we must learn to pay attention to discover the movements of God in our lives.
Elijah is told that God will be passing by the cave in which Elijah is hiding from the armed forces of the king and queen of Isarael. Elijah stands at the entrance of the cave and experiences three frightening weather events — a strong and heavy wind, the crushing of rocks, and an earthquake; but God was not present in any of these momentous events. Finally, Elijah hears a tiny whispering sound. God is present in this barely discernable sound.
This image of a tiny sound tells us that God often comes to us in the smallest occurrences of our lives. God does not work amid big fanfares and brass bands. He plays for us the tiniest of flutes and we must learn to listen for and to that flute.
If we need scriptural assurance of God working in the small and insignificant, we need look no further than to the life of Jesus. He was born in Bethlehem. He lived as a migrant and refugee during a large portion of his early life, and grew up and learned his trade as a carpenter in Nazareth. He was absolutely insignificant for most of his life, and yet he was the Son of God. His life is very much like that tiny little sound heard by Elijah. Only when he started his public life, did he become known as an outstanding rabbi.
Elijah and Jesus teach us one of the most valuable lessons for the discovery of God in our lives. Don’t look for the magnificent, outstanding or stunning events as evidence of God’s presence. Rather, learn to pay attention to the lowly and insignificant events, for there we will truly find God’s presence.
In order to hear the tiny little sound as Elijah did, we should try to find places of and for silence. When we are in silence, we allow God to touch our hearts in profound ways that are not known among noise and clutter. Elijah’s experience teaches us to find places of silence and solitude. Sometimes these places are physical, like the cave. Sometimes they are psychological, when our emotions are at rest. And sometimes they are spiritual, when we sit quietly in a church or chapel and simply appreciate the presence of God.
God is not present in the noise and clutter of our culture. Fast cars revving their engines leave no place for God. The model who is dressed in the most elaborate way leaves no place for God to show forth her genuine beauty. Elaborate meals prepared without thought for the poor who go without nourishment do not leave a place for the hungry as Jesus did on the hillsides of Israel.
In a culture of noise, excess, and thoughtlessness, we must exert ourselves to hear the voice of God. This is a voice of love, care, and concern. It cannot be heard unless we learn to heed God in our silent places.