how's your year going?

 Homily

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

9 August 2020

AMDG +JMJ +m

Today's scriptures give me whiplash.

Elijah does not encounter God in the fire, wind or earthquake, but in a whisper.

Jesus gets away from the crowd for some peace and quiet.

But he sends the disciples right into a storm.  And when he arrives, he doesn't calm the storm, but tells Peter to brave the wind and surf the waves - with his feet.

So which is it?  Is God in the calm, or in the storm?

Of course the answer is the classic both, and -not either, or.

Today let's focus on the storm.  Most everyone agrees that 2020 is choppy, if not a raging tornado.  Find me a prophet who thinks the last five months are going to be better than the first seven.  So many people are afraid and anxious.

Any student of history, however, knows that storms are the norm.  You can distance yourself from some storms - nothing wrong with being safe and careful - but you can't avoid them all. No one can.  To be human is to be vulnerable.

Jesus tells Peter to engage the storm with his faith.  God can quell any storm he wants, and he can meet us in the silence and in peace, but other times, he wants to elicit my faith in dangerous times.  He invites me not just to survive the storm, but to thrive - to unlock new potential and capacities - to write a more courageous story with him.

So why am I scared of 2020?  Why do I doubt?  Why am I using distancing as my new excuse for not risking more intimacy with God and others?  Why am I hunkered down because the waves of the culture are against me - because I don't want to be labeled as careless or privileged, or sexist or racist? Why am I hunkered down in the boat with people who are just like me?

Jesus' response to my cowardice is predictable.  C'mon Fr. Mitchel!  Don't let this little storm scare you.  I'm here.  I'll catch you if you fail.  I believe in you more than you believe in yourself.  I want to love you more than you want to be loved, right in the adversity of your life.  Come!  Come on!  Let's go!  Why do you doubt?

Today's story makes me want to engage 2020, not run away and hide!  The exciting life of a Christian is to fill doubt with faith, to transform fear with courage, illness with healing, hatred with love, distance with intimacy, discord with reconciliation.  2020 is perfect actually for doing just these things.

Today is a good day for me to lose my excuses, and engage 2020 with faith.