Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, A

Do you remember the moment, a little over 6 years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Pope Francis gave a unique Urbi et Orbi blessing. He ascended the rainy steps of Saint Peter's Basilica alone, praying for the world and blessing it with the Blessed Sacrament.

I have Mass on Sunday, August 9 at St. Isidore @ 7:30/9:30 am. The 7:30 am Mass will be live-streamed. https://stisidore.church/isidore-online/

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Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. 

After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening, he was there alone. Meanwhile, the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. At once, Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid." 

Peter said to him in reply, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." And he said, "come." 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. And 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?" 

After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, Truly, you are the Son of God. 

The Gospel of the Lord 

The prophet Elijah staged a contest between Yahweh and the god Baal. Elijah won, and then he put 400 priests of Baal to death. Queen Jezebel decreed that Eliah should also be put to death. Elijah plopped down under a broom tree and asked God to let him die. An angel brought him a hearth cake, angel food cake, Barbara Brown Taylor calls it. The angel told Elijah to walk 40 days to Mount Horeb. This is the same mountain where God had been revealed to Moses. 

Now, Elijah has had some time to think about this, and he's beginning to understand that God is not in the violence. In God, there is no competition. God is more like no God than one of the gods. Hiding in the cleft of the rock, Elijah listens for the voice of God. But God is not in the devouring fire, like that which surrounded the mountain at the giving of the law to Moses. Nor can Elijah hear God in the fierce, crushing wind or in the earthquake. It is in a tiny, whispering sound that Elijah hears the voice of God. 

In the darkness of the night, God speaks. "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah answered, "I've been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life to take it away." 

Elijah has made this all about himself. "I alone am left." In fact, this is not true. God tells Elijah that he has 7,000 faithful Israelites up his sleeve that have not bent their knee to the god Baal that Elijah knows nothing about. Elijah has reached the end of his rope, but God is not finished. God is creating space for something new to emerge. God sends Elijah back down the mountain to anoint a new king and to anoint Elisha as his successor. Despite Elijah's gloom and doom, God imagined a future both for Israel and the prophet. 

In today's Gospel, Jesus compels his disciples to get into the boat and go ahead to the other side. Jesus then goes to a mountain by himself to pray. The disciples are out in the boat tossed about by the waves. Matthew is painting a picture of a young church sailing against the wind. In the year 80 in the first century, the church was still rather small and fragile, facing threats from within and without. During the fourth watch, the deepest part of the night, Jesus came walking on the sea toward the beleaguered church. The disciples believed they're seeing a ghost. They cried out in their fear. "Take courage," Jesus says. And then, "I am." "Ego eimi" in Greek, which is a translation of the Hebrew, Ehyeh asher ehyeh, the divine name of God. The power of Jesus is the power of God. God doesn't say, "I will be." God doesn't say, "I was." God says, "I am." The Lord God took control of the waters of chaos by walking on the water. Therefore, Church, "do not be afraid." 

Do you remember the moment, a little over six years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Pope Francis gave a unique Urbi et Orbi blessing? He ascended the rainy steps of St. Peter's Basilica alone, praying for the world and blessing it with a blessed sacrament. In the midst of a global pandemic, we were all isolated, alone, and frightened. Pope Francis came and spoke to us, reminding us that we were not alone. "We have realized," Francis said, "that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other." 

In the beginning of the Gospel, chapter 1, verse 23, Matthew reminds us, "They shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us." And Matthew repeats this in the very last verse of the gospel, chapter 28, verse 20. "Remember, I am with you always until the end of the age." In the opening verse of John's gospel, chapter 1, verse 14, "the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." God is no stranger to the struggles of life God meets us here in the midst of our lives. As Pope Francis reminded us "we're on the same boat, each one of us is needed and important." 

Right now we're in the middle of a two year reorganization in the Archdiocese of Detroit. In the next ten years we'll have a hundred fewer priests. Our present model of church is not sustainable. Today's gospel, though, reminds us that this is not the first time the church has faced difficulty. The archbishop has called us together to reimagine what it means to be church. All the archdiocesan priests, our parish staffs, and every single parishioner was invited to give input. We are all in the same boat. 

Even as I am saddened by the potential loss of parish communities where I have ministered as a priest, I believe that God is calling us to work together to create a space for a future that God is preparing for us. God is not finished. "Remember, I am with you always, until the end of the age."