Homily - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Sunday 13th August 2023

Homily

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday 13th August 2023

In the Christy Moore song "The Voyage", written by John Duhan, in the chorus is the line “Life is an ocean and love is a boat in troubled water that keeps us afloat”. The story is of a couple setting out in life. The voyage through their life they see their family grow like the crew of a ship. To make things work, it is all about building strong relationships that will last the full journey, even though they don’t have a destination marked out on their chart.

As the family grows and the children become adults, it is not long before there is a flotilla of boats, each struggling to navigate the storms experienced in life. Love within the church, as in the body of people who make up the church, can also be represented as a ship trying to navigate the perils of an ocean voyage, facing hurricanes and tsunamis. Even trying to dock at a harbour these days may be fraught with many islands around the world being devastated by wildfires through global warming.

In recent weeks we have seen the islands of Rhodes and Corfu, also on the Greek peninsula, and across Turkey. This week Hawaii’s second largest island, Maui, has seen great losses and 80% of the town of Lahaina being destroyed. It is at these times, many struggle with their faith.

We see in today’s Gospel, the apostles are out in their boat in the Sea of Galilee, which was often prone to choppy waters and strong headwinds. The apostles were battling their way through a violent sea. The fourth watch is between 3 am to 6 am the last watch of the night, so not only was it frightful weather but also dark. The fishermen were disorientated and terrified of drowning.

Peter had seen Jesus walking on water, coming towards the boat. When Peter recognised him, he only had listened to Jesus’s instruction to do the same, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.” Jesus did tell him but when Peter realised what he was doing, and to him how impossible this was, he began to sink. He pleaded for the Lord to save him. Jesus put out his hand to Peter and held him. Once they were both in the boat the storm stopped. The reason the apostles were in the boat in the first place was because Jesus had sent them on ahead. He wanted them to weather the storm and have courage.

At the time of Elijah, Israel suffered from drought and famine. Most of the people had abandoned God turning to Baal. Elijah was a lone voice but was seen as the scourge of Israel by the prophets of Baal, who numbered 400. On Mount Carmel, King Ahab called the Israelites together. Elijah challenged the other prophets to sacrifice to their god, while he would do the same to the Lord. Two bulls were prepared as a burnt sacrifice but not set on fire. The 400 prophets called on their god to bring down fire. From morning to midday, they called on Baal to bring down fire, but nothing happened.

Elijah called on the people to come to his side, he repaired the Lord’s altar that had been smashed, placed the sacrificial bull on it and dug a trench around it. Three times Elijah asked for water to be poured on the sacrifice and into the trench until it overflowed. For anyone who has ever lit a fire, wet wood is not what you would use. Elijah called to the Lord. Fire fell from heaven consuming the burnt offering, the wood, the stone altar and even the water in the trench. The Israelites fell on their faces crying, “The Lord is God. The Lord is God”.

The 400 hundred prophets were seized and put to death by King Ahad. By the time he returned to the city of Jezreel, the sky was full of dark clouds and the rain was pouring. The king’s wife, Jezebel threatened to have Elijah killed and he fled for his life. He was so disturbed he wished he was dead. Twice an angel provided food and drink for him, then sent Elijah to Mount Horeb, God’s Mountain. It was there that God met Elijah after hearing the gentle breeze.

All God was asking was for Elijah to trust in him that he would always be with him. Likewise, as we journey through the sea of life, we tend to want to hide away in some dark place. Jesus asks us not to be afraid of the storms ahead of us, but to have faith and courage to know he is with us. And when we accept him into our lives, as one of the crew anything is possible, as Peter found when he too walked on water.

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