Word to the Wise
Friday, June 13, 2008 - St. Anthony of Padua - priest and doctor of the Church
[1 Kings 19:9A, 11-16 and Matthew 5:27-32]Elijah came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the Lord come to him, "Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will be passing by." A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord - but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake - but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire - but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance to the cave. A voice said to him, "Elijah, why are you here?"
Elijah is on the run from wicked King Ahab and his equally wicked (and stronger) queen, Jezebel! They were determined to kill him - a fate that seemed to dog most of the Old Testament prophets and happens to prophetic figures in our own time! When the going gets rough, many of us, prophets included, would like to have a dramatic intervention from the Lord! In Elijah's case, this occurred when he confronted the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:19-40). But sometimes the intervention is much more subtle, as in the description in today's first scripture - "a tiny whispering sound." How does the Lord speak to you? From the "nudging idea" (not too different from that tiny whispering sound) that led me, as a college student, to investigate religious life, to the roaring Pacific surf that I stand and listen to for a few days on the Oregon coast in the Summer, to the ideas that come to me when I sit down at this keyboard to preach, to the students who have entered my life in many ways and wound up staying as close friends - all these have been ways in which God has spoken or continues to speak to me. Perhaps we often speak of this as the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We don't have to be fleeing for our lives as Elijah is doing. We may just be tired of life and need the strength to keep up and go on! Maybe there was a time when we were inspired by something or someone who providentially shows up at a critical moment! Ellijah simply tells us that we have to be prepared to hear God as much in a tiny whispering sound as in the roar of events! AMEN
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