19th Sunday of Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes
When God visits the Prophet Elijah at Mt. Horeb the Divine Presence is preceded by powerful winds, quaking earth, and raging fire. Yet the Lord is not in the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire. Then there is a tiny whispering sound. Hearing this, Elijah goes forth to speak with God. In today’s gospel, Jesus calls Peter to “Come” forth to him out of the boat. Peter begins walking on the water, but seeing how strong the wind is he becomes frightened, begins sinking, and shouts “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately stretches out his hand, lifts him up, and speaks to him. There is a common theme in these two episodes. In these encounters with God, Elijah and Peter must distinguish the Divine Voice from the noise. God is speaking to us, or he would like to. How can we listen without getting distracted or misled?
What do the demons want? They want the worst for us. They don’t want us listening to the Lord. They want us fully preoccupied with less important things. They want us too afraid or too discouraged to take good steps forward. How much time do we waste obsessing on things that don’t matter? How often do we worry about things that won’t happen? And how easily do we accept the lie that life cannot be better, that there’s nothing we can do? When our eyes and ears drift away from Jesus we sink. He chides us, ‘O you of little faith, of small trust in me, why do you doubt?’ Today I wish to share three great mens’ true discernment stories.
My first story is one about the 19th century saint, John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. His humble holiness and miraculous ability to read souls made crowds flock to his small French town for confessions, which he would hear for hours on end. His faithful fruitfulness made him a target of demonic harassment. Apparently, typical temptations were ineffective against him, so sometimes they would assault him as he tried to sleep at night, but Fr. John would take this as a good sign. It usually meant some “great sinner” was coming to town the next day to be reconciled to God in the confessional.
I have encountered people whose emotions very much did not want to go to confession or attend a spiritual retreat yet they could think of an actual good reason not to go. So they come, and experience God’s grace, and it’s more wonderful than they imagined! Who do you think was influencing their feelings in hopes they would not come encounter and listen to God? Emotions can be helpful and powerful fuel in your gas tank, but let your informed conscience and sound reason hold your steering wheel.
My second discernment story is about our former bishop, Cardinal Raymond Burke. He saw a need for a richer devotional culture in our diocese and felt peace and joy in the thought of establishing a pilgrimage shrine. He has a personal devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and initially pursued a shrine dedicated to her 1917 Portuguese apparitions, but nothing was coming together. So he revised the plan, opting to create a Marian shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe and her Mexican apparitions in 1531. With that adjustment, everything began falling into place; a donation of beautiful land and financial contributions resulting in the shrine we know today. So not all obstacles come from the enemy. Some hindrances can be God’s providence to channel us into doing his will.
Midway through my time in seminary, I really believed for good reasons that priesthood was my calling, yet I still could easily question my vocation. (How could I be sure?) I would go in circles doubting myself with no greater clarity or benefit. So I decided to say to God, “Lord, this is my fair warning and my RSVP: I intend to continue towards ordination, but if that’s not what you want please make it obvious or impossible for me. If it’s not your will, I don’t want it to happen.” I left it to him, and after that I felt much more peace, and here I am now. Peace is a strong sign that you’re doing the will of God.
My third discernment story is about of St. Joseph. You will recall that when he learned that Mary was with child (either because he doubted her and thought her unworthy of him, or else because he believed her and thought himself unworthy or her and her holy child) Joseph concluded he should not be Mary’s husband. However, it only took an angel’s visit in one night’s dream to get Joseph back on the right track. This is because Joseph was a just man who wanted to do whatever God willed. God is supremely intelligent, powerful, and creative; so he can provide a clear sign if he needs to. However, having a heart and mind open to doing God’s will is a necessity.
You cannot see God’s signs with your eyes closed shut. You cannot hear him if you refuse to listen. God prefers to speak to us with a tiny whispering Voice, but if we ignore him he may allow some disruption in our lives. Those figurative winds, earthquakes, and fires are supposed to get our attention so that we will heed him and listen to his Voice. Our psalmist says, “I will hear what God proclaims; the Lord — for he proclaims peace. Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him…” Fearing God is not about terror, but regarding and respecting him. Those who do, seek God’s will. They hear his Voice and listen, and thereby gain his blessings.
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August 23, 2023 at 7:31 am |
Well said :)!