"Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid."

As we engage today’s Gospel of the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, we’re in the midst of an angry sea, in a boat that seems fragile and there are howling winds and enormous waves that threaten to capsize the disciples.

At some point in time, the storminess on the Sea of Galilee may describe anyone’s life – one’s parish or school; one’s business or neighborhood or family; one’s personal life as our employer tells us that our job is downsized or outsourced, or our doctor explains our test results.

This has been the life of the community of the Church many times since Jesus walked on water, and it is what today’s Gospel account is all about.

When we focus on the power of the winds and the depths of the waves and how wet and cold we are, then we panic and grasp and clutch and…sink.  When we give our life over to Jesus, we save our life.

This message is straightforward and easy to understand but so hard to live out when we are gripped by our fears.    The grace we seek from today’s Scriptures is to cultivate faith in Jesus that is greater than our fears.  The words of Jesus that are spoken to us again and again are:  “It is I; do not be afraid.”

There is a remarkable similarity between the situation Elijah found himself in today’s first Scripture reading and the disciples’ predicament in today’s Gospel.

Elijah had incurred the wrath of Jezebel, wife of Ahab, the King of Israel, and, as a result, the prophet had to flee into the desert and to the mountaintop.   There, he began to despair.  Although he felt alone and helpless, he was soon to learn that the God for whom he had fearlessly prophesied had not abandoned him.  God was near, providing food for the journey and an experience of God’s presence in his life.

Like Elijah, the disciples of Jesus found themselves in peril, as wind and waves tossed them about.  Their anxiety increased when they did not recognize Jesus and thought that it was a ghost that was approaching.  Jesus insisted they have courage.  He said:  “Do not be afraid.”

 When in your life do you experience the turbulence of the sea and your fears and anxiety get the best of you?  Are there times when you panic there is too much to do and not enough time to do it?  As a parent or grandparent, what happens when you do not approve of the choices your children are making?  As a teen or young adult, what happens when your heart is broken from a relationship that falls apart?  How is it for you when you are disillusioned by those in authority – in the government, in the Church, or in your place of business?  Personally when loneliness or depression gets the best of you, where do you turn?

There is a take-home message from the experience Elijah and the experience of the disciples on the Sea of Galilee.

The Lord said to Elijah:  “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will be passing by.”  As Elijah waited, the Lord was not to be found in the wind, or the earthquake or the fire.  After the fire, there was a tiny whispering sound, this is where Elijah experienced God’s presence.  And so we ask the question, where do we experience the Lord in our lives?  What is our tiny whispering sound?  Where is our sheer silence that speaks of God’s presence in our life?  God is to be found in the small gestures, in the gentle breezes of life, in the sound of sheer silence.  You never know how deeply a small gesture touches someone.  Last week I had the opportunity of spending some time with three grand nephews and my grand-niece.  They are ages 7, 5, 3, and less than a year old.  Simply holding Keara Grace in my arms touched me deeply with the mystery of God’s love.  She was a tiny whispering sound of God’s love in my life.  To read a bed-time story to my grand-nephews was also a gentle breeze of God’s presence.  Holding a one-year old in your arms or reading bed-time stories to young boys is not earth shattering by any means, but I can tell these were privileged opportunities for me to experience God in the gentle breezes of my life.

In the Gospel account of the storm of Sea of Galilee, the evangelist Matthew tells us that Jesus came to the disciples during the fourth watch of the night.  That is 3:00 am.

If you are awake at 3:00 am, often it is a sign of something wrong.  If you are unable to sleep tossing and turning, if you are waiting for someone to come home at 3:00 am, if the phone rings or there’s a knock on the door, if people are out on the streets at 3:00 am, it often is not a very good sign.

For some people, it’s 3:00 am emotionally.  Whatever problems we experience, whatever hurt or guilt or grief, it’s always worse in the middle of the night.  In the life of the Church, we may think it is 3:00 am if the numbers in our parish community are dwindling.

Despite the fears and struggles of our life that make it seem like it is 3:00 am no matter what time it is.  Exactly when it seems that things couldn’t get any worse, Jesus comes to us walking on the sea of our sadness and discontent.  With love and assurance, Jesus says:  “Take courage.  It is I.  Do not be afraid.”  Then like Elijah and like the disciples, we will draw courage from His presence – so much courage that like Peter; we dare to venture out into the deep.

As we pray over today’s Scripture readings, the grace that was given to the prophet Elijah was to recognize God in the “tiny whispering sounds” in life – in the silence and the gentle breezes.  May we seek the awareness of discovering God’s presence in the ordinary events of our day – even holding a child in your arms.   As the disciples did on the Sea of Galilee,  may we also recognize God’s presence in the storminess of our life.   The Lord is speaking to us:  “Take courage. It is I.  Do not be afraid.”