2332AFC081123 – What will it take?
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1 Kings 19 b:12-13 – after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Psalm 85:10
10 Love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will embrace.
Romans 9:4-5 – 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5 to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
Matthew 14:28-33 – 28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord.
We begin with something familiar – I certainly hope it is familiar! – which is an action that requires a motive. Now, psychologists tell us, “All behavior is positive in intent.” This is a presupposition in Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). With that in mind, what happens when we speak, and hear ourselves speaking, this?
I believe in God, the Father,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
Or if we say and hear, “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
Of course that sounds familiar! We say one of these Creeds every Sunday, at every daily Mass, with every Rosary, and it’s just always there for us to speak and to hear – but do we only speak and hear it? Can we conscientiously say we pray the Credo? At an even deeper level, can we attest that what we are saying, hearing, and praying is actually, precisely, and truly what we believe? Or do we get on autopilot and just bop on through it? Have you ever noticed that during the Scrutinies for catechumens when we use the Apostles Creed that somehow our brain jumps the track and we’re trying to fit the Nicene creed into our recitation? Perhaps we could scrutinize our own participation in the profession of our faith. Are we really present in that moment? Is what we are speaking, hearing, praying, and professing TRULY what we believe? What would it take to speak, hear, pray, and profess the truth handed down to us from the Apostles? For some of us, sadly, it would take a miracle – kind of like what The Apostle Peter experienced in Sunday’s Gospel. Let’s begin with that, and then move on to our other Key Verses.
This episode comes right after Jesus has delivered a bunch of parables and then, when teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth, the people “took offense at him” and refused to believe what he was teaching. Because of that lack of faith, we read “And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief. (See Matthew 13:58) What would it have taken for them to believe? What could have changed their “A-h-h-h, baloney!” attitude? Miracles? They didn’t have enough faith to believe in the Word, so they didn’t have enough faith to accept miracles. How did they fall so short in Faith? They would not hear the Word, and therefore could not accept the Word. WE have the Word, hear the Word, speak the Word, pray the Word, profess the Word, so surely we must believe the Word, including the miracles.
At the beginning of Matthew 14 we have the account of the execution of John the Baptist 
followed by the feeding of the 5,000. After that event, Jesus dismissed the crowds and went to a deserted place to pray until evening came. He had sent the Disciples ahead by boat to another destination. We all know the story – Master, The Tempest is Raging (↔ Music Link), and we remember The Apostle Peter’s part in it. So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me! Here it comes again, a common thread in these posts lately: HE FORGOT. Peter is “just two chapters away” (See Matthew 16 beginning at verse 13) from declaring that Jesus is the Messiah. In all fairness, it’s not so much that The Apostle Peter forgot, he just had not yet made up his mind. I have always marveled at the phrase, “So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water.” Peter was on the verge of being a miracle, but he doubted. Fortunately, he did have enough faith in his Master to believe that he could save him from death. Do I, do you, do we have enough faith to actually believe Jesus will save us? I know that many of us do, and we have that faith because we, too, were on the verge of being a miracle when we realized we couldn’t handle it and asked Jesus to save us. What did it take?
For some of us it was a twelve-step program. For others it was time in the box with a Priest acknowledging our sincere contrition and commitment to successful repentance. Others still might have been in a near-death situation like a serious accident or a deeply personal loss. I want to share with you something that made me change. In 2222AFC060322 – Who ya gonna call?, I told you about the time I nearly died and instead made a wonderful friend in the Holy Spirit. That whole months-long episode began with an examination of conscience that went profoundly deeper than I had ever gone before. I asked the Holy Spirit to come into my heart and clean out all the trash there. As I prayed, watched, and listened, the Holy Spirit helped me speak, hear, pray, and profess the truth – it was a mess in there!
Honestly, it is still pretty messy, and I don’t show up in the box often enough to keep it presentable for My Lord. Yet, I have not forgotten this: In 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul tells Timothy, “I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed (↔ Music Link) and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” I know with absolute, joyful, expectant confidence that there is a place for me, and for you, and for everyone who enters in through The Way given to us by God’s Only Begotten Son. When we reach up in desperate fear of drowning in our own mess, Jesus reaches out and pulls us away from danger and then – guess what! The storm subsides, the wind dies down, and the waves of sin and regret disappear. He hears us always. Do we hear him? What will it take to do that?
In “The Bible According to Otto Preminger” (← Check it out!), God speaks with a thundering, deep bass voice. It’s not always like that. Take Elijah’s experience for example.
Elijah’s flight.
After traveling 40 days and 40 nights from Jezreel to Mt Sinai to escape the vengeance of Jezebel, he climbs up mount Horeb (aka Sinai). God tells him “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.” Then all manner of things happen that Hollywood loves to hype – hurricane winds, earthquakes, fire – but God was not in any of these. The special-effects ended and there was a nearly-silent whispering sound. At that, Elijah covered his face and went to the mouth of the cave to meet God. He was in for a surprise – as is anyone who steps out to see God – as God said to him “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah says he’s running to save his life. God tells him to get up and go back North up to Damascus where he will crown a man to be King of Aram, another man as King of Israel, and finally to anoint Elisha as his successor. That was Elijah’s retirement assignment. Later, Elijah would be caught up into Heaven in a fiery chariot that swung low (↔ Music Link) to pick him up. Elijah lived in and for God and always provided a testimony to the mighty power of God.
When we live out our lives as servants of the Lord, we find that he is able to handle whatever it is we think we cannot share with him. How silly of us to think that he won’t clear away the messes we make, just so that he can draw us closer to him! When we Walk By Faith(↔ Music Link), we end up walking with The Man From Galilee (↔ Music Link) – even if he is walking on the water! Peter started to sink because he was afraid, and because he thought he could walk on the water of his own volition. Once again, we have to say, he forgot to Be not afraid (↔ Music Link) Whenever God Acts to restore us – that is, to bring us closer to him – his steadfast love and faithful promise will open the way for righteousness and peace to be present to us even after we have banished them from our thoughts and our hearts. We are reminded of Isaiah 32:17 –
17 The effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. This is also reflected in Isaiah 30:15-a –
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. This inspiring notion is also found in Psalm 103:1-5 (← Check it out!). Those who fail to bless the Lord, those who appear to be walking in the Lord’s way but are actually following their own concupiscence are earning for themselves A Hellacious Outcome (↔ Learning Link) which is not only avoidable, but also permanent. (YOLO-F) “Forget not all his benefits,” isn’t just some slogan for the T-vangelists. It is the most-righteous way to stay close to God – to keep that attitude of gratitude that he appreciates because he put it into us in the first place. Please put this chorus into your background-music collection – you know, the one that sticks a tune in your head that plays all day. It’s called Thank you Lord (↔ Music Link). Here’s another easy exercise for this coming week.
Please take 2 minutes and read this beautiful passage in Deuteronomy 7:8-13. You will 
find this instructive because it contains all we need to know about God’s expectations and the results of accepting or rejecting him. This weekend when you hear about The Apostle Peter and his misadventure on the Sea of Galilee, remember that it is OK to step out in faith, but if we do, we have to keep going like Elijah did – and often with little preparation other than what God provides for us. We cannot forget that it is always enough to finish whatever he asks of us and all that happens to us. “My Grace is sufficient for you.” Sometimes his Grace includes a sponsor, a friend, a pastor, a confessor, or just a good, long talk with the Holy Spirit. Set aside a specific time to – as in make an appointment for – meet with God for a Sweet Hour of Prayer (↔ Music Link) and make it daily. After all, if God is with us and we are with God, then we know what it will take to meet him in his Sweet Sacrament Divine (↔ Music Link) the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
What will it take to make God preeminent in our lives? (↔ Learning Link). If we’ve been using our B.I.B.L.E., then we know he expects nothing less than HIS preeminence in our lives.
Neither should we!
And now, May the God of Peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Maran atha! Marana tha!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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