Led to the Right Path by Adversity

In today's first reading, Jonah 1: 1-2: 2, 11, Jonah boards a ship going in the opposite direction from Nineveh. God's request of Jonah was that he [s]et out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; their wickedness has come up before me." Jonah runs away from God, as does a little child whose parents are asking of him/her what the little one does not was to do. Just as a parent runs after the fleeing child, so, too, does God follow Jonah. He gets Jonah's attention when a violent storm breaks out and the ship on which he is traveling is in great danger of sinking!  Frightened, the crew, once they believe that Jonah is the problem, throw Jonah overboard. The turbulence ceases. And Jonah is swallowed up by a huge fish and coughed up on the shores of Nineveh, so the story goes--a theological treatise teaching us that God is in charge and that, when we try to escape God's ways and fail to carry out God's will for us, we, too, will experience turbulence--a troubled conscience that deprives us of sleep at night and denies us the peace we crave. We, too, become swallowed up by darkness!

Our only chance of becoming free is that God ultimately rescues us from our waywardness. With Jonah, Jonah 2: 3-5, 8, we pray:

Out of my distress I called upon the Lord,
and he answered me; 
From the midst of the nether world I cried for help,
and you heard my voice.

For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea,
and the flood  enveloped me;
All your breakers and your billows
passed me over.

Then I said, "I am banished from our sight!
yet would I again look upon your holy temple."

When my soul fainted within me,
 I remembered the Lord;
My prayer reached you
in your holy temple.

Discernment and Turbulent Waters

Discernment and Turbulent Waters:   In today’s Gospel, Matthew 14: 22-36, the disciples are out on the sea, buffeted by strong winds.  Jesus had stayed ashore to dismiss the crowd of about 5000 men plus all of the women and children that they had just fed.   “During the fourth watch of the night  [around 3:00 in the morning][Jesus] came toward them, walking on the sea.”  The disciples are terrified, thinking that they are seeing a ghost walking toward the boat.  Jesus, aware of their fright, says to them: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”  Peter says to Him: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus says: “Come.”  So Peter begins to walk on the turbulent water toward Jesus and as the winds whip around him, he becomes frightened, takes his eyes off Jesus and begins to sink.  “’Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him,” saying “O, you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

“If it is you, command me to come to you,”  Peter says to the Lord.  Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk on the water. “Is he crazy,” we may ask!  “What’s he thinking? He is not capable of walking on water,”   we proclaim.  When you and I are contemplating something which we believe God is asking of us, like Peter, we may courageously step out into the turbulent waters because we believe that the Lord has called us, as He did Peter: “Come”  Jesus says to Peter when Peter says to Him: “If it is you, Lord, command me to come to you on the water.”  It’s like saying: “If it is you, Lord, calling me to remain single, to enter religious life, to study for the priesthood, to marry this woman/this man, bit me do so.”  “If it is you asking me to do such and such, bit me, Lord, to do it with courage and with faith.” Then the waves of criticism rise and we may get scared, begin to sink in our resolve. “Save me, Lord.” And immediately, Jesus reaches out His hand and walks with us to accomplish that of which, on our own, we are not capable!

Discernment: Jonah's Way

Discernment:  In today’s first reading, Jonah 1: 1-2: 2, 11, we read about Jonah running away from the Lord, who had commissioned him to go to Nineveh, to “preach against it” because “their wickedness has come up before me.”  Jonah connects with a ship going to Tarshish in an effort to escape the Lord’s will.  A violent storm erupts and the ship is about to sink.  The crew is frantic. Jonah is sound asleep in “the hold of the ship.”  He knows why the storm has erupted and admits to running from the Lord.  To save everyone, the crew tosses Jonah off the ship. Everything calms down. Jonah is swallowed up by a whale for three days and three nights.  At God’s commands, the whale coughs him up on the shore of Nineveh!  God’s will prevails! We really do not escape carrying out God’s commands, though we may certainly attempt to do so. 

Part of discerning the will of God in our lives is learning to listen to the turbulence, the discomfort, the tempests that rise up.  There is a reason!  When we are running away from the Lord like Jonah had been, we do know why we run into stormy weather, so to speak.  And, if we do not know, those around us do, as did the crew.  It simply calls for honesty on our part and on the part of those involved in our lives at the time.  Sometimes, however, a turbulence is simply a turbulence and it is not connected to us being off course with our God any more than Jesus was off course when he clashed with the Pharisees, the Sadducees and teachers of His day. How did Jesus know? He knew because He and the Father were of one heart, one mind, one soul and every day He conversed with His Father.  We, too, will know as Jesus knew as we grow in intimacy with the Lord, taking time daily to commune with God our Father.