Hearing God’s Whisper

Normally I would be posting my Sunday homily about now but for the first time in a couple of years I did not preach this weekend.  Each summer we welcome a person from a diocese, religious community, or official Catholic group to speak seeking support for their ministry. This weekend we welcomed Deacon Garcia from the Diocese of Gallup who offered the homily.

While I did not prepare a homily this weekend I still reflected on the readings and would like to offer some thoughts here.

The disciples found themselves out on the lake in a boat when the wind comes up. It’s during the storm when Jesus came near walking on the water. Already troubled by the wind, they don’t know what to think. They know it looks like Jesus but how could this be?  they think it must be ghost which only adds to their fear.

Often it is when we most need Jesus that it can be most difficult to see him active in our lives. Then we wonder where Jesus is. Does he care? Whether we see him or not, Jesus is always with us.

When God passes by Elijah, God is not in the wind, earthquake, or fire. God came in the tiny whisper. Even when life is going well, it can be hard to hear God’s whisper. When life is hard, it can seem impossible to hear God’s whisper.

I have seen this in my own life recently.  For those who don’t know, our parish has been looking for a Finance Director for over seven months.  it has been a long seven months for me.  During this time, we struggled but made through with the cooperation of the staff in general, extra hours by the bookkeeping staff, and the help of four retired parishioners who have given very generously of their time.  Without these people, the parish and I never would have made it. I thank them all for their help. These people did a LOT of work but extra responsibility fell to me.

Over these months I grew tired and when I prayed, finding God was difficult. I never lost faith that God was there.  In fact, my trust that God would provide was what kept me going. Yet, it was hard for me in all the stuff to hear God’s whisper. God did provide, in large part through the people I mentioned above.  it was just hard for me to quiet down to hear God’s whisper.

Having said all this I am now happy to say we have finally found an excellent person for the position of Finance Director.  Larry Wasser started this week.  of course, he needs to learn a lot about our parish but things are already better for me.   Thanks be to God.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff