My friends, I have always loved the 1^st reading today from Kings where Elijah goes looking to find God.  It is important for us to remember that people in Elijah’s time believed that God could and would be found on a mountain.  Even the gospel today shows Jesus, “going up on a mountain to pray.” 

   The part that I love is that Elijah doesn’t find God in the powers of nature—wind, earthquake, or fire—but in, “a gentle whisper.”  It would seem that Jesus had this sense too, that he would find God, his Abba, not in noise, but in silence, sending the apostles away. 

   So, it would seem that “our finding God” too, will not be so much about a “place,” but perhaps, a “condition,” maybe even a “frame of mind.”  Let me explain:
   For all intents and purposes, those of us who lived prior to the Second Vatican Council were taught basically, that to “find” God, and perhaps be alone with God, we too needed to go to “a mountain.”  Our “mountain” of course was the church, “where Jesus lived.”  I can remember as a young girl, attending Cathedral Grade School in Winona, slipping into the church, during recess on the playground adjacent to the church, “to make a visit,” and at special times when the Eucharist was exposed, making a visit was of even more importance.  And I am sure that during those visits, that I and others made, we did encounter God (Jesus) in the silence.

   The Second Vatican Council called each of us to go deeper—encouraging us to not only look for Jesus in the bread of the altar, but in fact, in each other—both, and.  Now, in order to do this, we must necessarily reconsider why Jesus was incarnated among us. 

   If we hold onto the old theology of a vindictive God who needed to be appeased for the sinfulness of humanity and that Jesus became that appeasement, then our faith is simply about a human/God figure, “who took the fall for us!”  Additionally, we were never taught to use the intelligence that God gifted us with to truly think about what kind of God would ask such a sacrifice.  For my part, I would rather wrap my heart and mind around the God portrayed by Jesus in the stories of the Prodigal and the Good Shepherd.

   Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council called us to “open some windows and let in some fresh air” –move out from Eucharistic Adoration to the much more tangible and understandable image of God in humanity, in all of creation—praising God there.  Or as Paul says today to the Romans— “Blessed forever be God who is over all,” and we might add, in all, as Paul connects Jesus, as Messiah to “human ancestry” and to his (Paul’s) people. 

   So friends, at face value, it might appear easier to praise and thank God in the Eucharist and in Adoration, but it simply doesn’t get the work done in our world that the psalmist points to today, “Adonai, justice will march before you” [!]

   I believe the Eucharist was always meant to be simply, the starting place, where we can hear, Elijah’s “gentle whisper[ing] God.”  It is the place where we can gain the strength, to not, “be afraid,” as was Peter in today’s gospel—to have, “more faith” than he had, and not “doubt,” but believe that we can do what we are called to by our brother, Jesus, to basically, get out of the boat! 

   Now, that having been said, I need to add that it is perfectly normal and human, to be afraid, and to doubt.  That is why we see many times in Jesus’ life, working with his apostles and disciples, that he gives them chance after chance to try again to get it right.  This is called “love” in its best sense.  Jesus, in his humanity knew fear and doubt too, asking his Abba, in the garden—if it was possible, could all that was coming next be taken from him. 

   Scripture tells us, in the end, he did find the strength needed to conquer death, and all evil by submitting to death and thereby bringing himself and us to a new life.  Do we fully understand this? No, but by his example, he showed us what we are capable of. 

   And with that, I offer us all an opportunity to share our good lives with others in our community.  Justin Green, deacon at St. Stanislaus Catholic church here in Winona, has invited any and all who may be interested to be part of a group of volunteers for the new jail intended for opening in October of this year.  Justin and others advocating over the years for a jail that would not just “warehouse” individuals, but indeed help them to grow and become productive members of our community after their release, have as well advocated for programs that would assist this endeavor. 

   If any of you would have an interest in helping in this way, I can supply you with a volunteer form. I can’t tell you what your volunteering would involve, but I would assume you would be able to help where you feel comfortable.

   I have been taking this request to my time with God, listening for Elijah’s “gentle, whisper[ing] God,” and I would invite you to do the same.  Amen? Amen!

P.S. If you answer “no” to the above request, you could respond as one man did in a report from Steve Hartman in his Friday night, “On the Road” series.  When asked why he helped out an old high school friend, realize a dream that was now out of his control due to a diagnosis of ALS at 56 years of age, simply said, and I paraphrase, it’s just about “doing good stuff.”  It would seem that is what each of us should be about—every day.

My friends, through this Sunday’s scriptures, in the words of the prophets, Isaiah, Jesus, and Paul, we are assured of God’s love for each of us. Let’s take a look.

   Isaiah speaks of God’s love this way: Come to me, all who are thirsty and poor basically, and I will care for you. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that, “Nothing [I repeat, nothing] can separate us from the love of God in Jesus,” [the Christ].  And Matthew tells us in today’s gospel that, “Jesus’ heart was moved” [with pity].  Even the psalmist reminds us that our God is gracious (kind) and merciful.

   Therefore my friends, there should be no doubt that we are loved and cared for by our God. And our God lets us know of this love through all the people who come into our personal lives who do us “good” by their mere presence in our lives.  When I pray with others, I often remind them of our God’s love for them, especially in times of trouble, when it is harder to believe that God is indeed near. I pray with hope that they will know of God’s love by all the good things—good people who show up, in their need.  We must remember that for the most part, none of us gets to see God in this life—but we do see each other and it is only there, again for the most part that we will experience God’s love. 

     Let’s turn then to our present day and see and be challenged by what we find there, applying today’s scriptures as we go. 

• I find myself being heart-broken once again as the daily news in Winona carries more of the incredibly sad story of Madeline Kingsbury and of how she, as so many other victims of domestic abuse and violence find it often impossible to get away from those who would hurt them.
• This week, the news recorded yet another death of a black brother by police here in Minnesota.  These events are incredibly sad because whether the taking of that life can be justified or not, it will always be looked at by the black community as unjust because of the racism that lies at the roots of our country that we want to think of, as “great.”  And I say that “racism lies at the roots” because of the statistics that show (as in COVID outbreaks and deaths), that there is more illness, more poverty, and more lack of opportunity in communities of color than anywhere else. 
• The news of this past week also lets us know that the shooter of 12 individuals in a Jewish synagogue several years back will probably suffer the death penalty for his crimes.  The trial uncovered many incredibly sad facts about this shooter who apparently had a horrendous upbringing, suffered from schizophrenia, and hated Jews.  Added to these horrible facts, he was able to purchase lethal weapons to end the lives of those he hated. 

   So, my friends, how do we apply the compassionate and over-the-top love of our God to the above? Our brother Jesus, in response to his apostles’ concern that he send the people away, “to find food,” said, “You give them something to eat.” 

   Now, we know that Jesus always meant more than he actually said—or, in other words, his intent was that hearers of his words do not take literally what he said, alone, but always go deeper, meaning that, “giving them something to eat, might not necessarily mean “physical” hunger alone. People are “hungry” for physical food, yes, but also emotional and spiritual food too—being accepted, listened to—loved.

   We have to imagine that someone who hates others to the point of taking their lives has to have been abused too along the way— “nothing comes from nothing,” a movie line says. 

   With regard to the physical feeding of many with very little, spoken of in the gospel today; there have been those writing about this event who have suggested that Jesus brought forth enough bread to feed the multitudes by encouraging everyone present to share with a neighbor, and thus having enough to feed everyone.

   And when you think about it, isn’t this what the Eucharist is really all about? –becoming the “Bread of Life” for others –meeting the physical, emotional, and spiritual hungers that we find in our world.  What we share at this table—we are challenged and encouraged to go out and share with others—this is just the beginning. 

   Another news item this week was a report from Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), stating that some areas of our world that depend on regular food assistance will have their allotments decreased because funds are running low.  It would seem that each of us who lives comfortably in our world should, likewise, as was said of our brother Jesus in today’s gospel, [be] “moved with pity.” 

   The problem, we all know, with physically feeding the hungry, is just meeting an emergency, without solving the need to feed oneself—on-going. WFP does sponsor programs to help people do just that—feed themselves and are therefore good to support.

   So my friends, when we hear the words of scripture that speak to the love of God for each of us and within each of us—freely given, with the expectation that we would, pay it forward to others, we must try to get at the root causes for pain and suffering in our world, doing all we can to support initiatives and people that make life better, healthier for all from birth to death. 

   No small challenge, but one we can bring about by keeping our eyes on Jesus and living accordingly. Amen? Amen!