What if there had been no storm? (Sunday homily)

There’s a word for what is happening in all the readings; 

for Elijah, for Saint Paul, and for Saint Peter: that word is discouragement. 

So: if you feel discouraged or disheartened, you are in good company. 

In the first reading, Elijah has fled to the mountain because he is discouraged. 

He tried to spark revival of faith, and the queen seeks to kill him. 

He feels very alone and overwhelmed. 

Paul is “in anguish” for his fellow Jews who have resisted the message of Jesus Christ. 

Peter is disheartened by the storm raging around him, and he begins to sink. 

There is a cure for discouragement, and the readings also tell us what that is as well: 

Staying close to Jesus. 

Notice what happened in the Gospel: 

When Peter kept his thoughts and focus on Jesus, 

He had courage and boldness, and no fear. What went wrong? 

When he looked away – at the storm. Then he sank. 

I think a lot of us have made that mistake too. 

A lot of us keep up with the news, and that’s important; 

You and I need to be well informed. 

But I will confess, here and now, that I overdo it, 

And I know I’m not the only one. 

My strategy is I almost never watch TV news, and only listen to a little radio. 

God bless them, but what do they do? 

They tell us that you and I need to be all worked up! 

You had better be mad! And you’d better be scared! 

Even when the news is good, they make it sound bad. 

So while some of us do need to get better informed,

others of us could do with a fast from Fox News or MSNBC.

And, I might add, this applies to other people’s outrage.

Some people aren’t happy unless they are mad about something;

And they want to make you mad about it, too.

Don’t let their storms draw your attention from Jesus. 

These strange and frustrating times are getting in the way 

of a lot of things we want to do. 

Worse is how many people have lost work, 

And there is too much uncertainty and disruption. 

Still, try to keep an even keel. 

In 1940, things were terrible. 

The world was at war and evil was on the march. 

The Great Depression had been going on for a decade. 

And if you lived then, and anyone had told you 

what the next five years of war would bring, you would have been terrified! 

And then, if they’d told you what the five years after that would bring: 

victory, peace, prosperity and amazing accomplishments; 

you would have thought it was nonsense. 

We can’t see through the storm, why try? 

Jesus is right here with us, walking straight through it. 

The storms and trouble can do a lot of damage, 

But there’s one thing they can never do: 

Keep Jesus from coming to us in our struggle. 

The disciples wanted Jesus to get in the boat with them. 

That was what they knew; it was as much security as they could have. 

But notice: Jesus didn’t really want that; 

He wanted them to get out of the boat! Peter did it! 

And, although he walked on water only briefly before failing, 

I have no doubt he remembered that experience, 

That exhilaration, that victory! 

And even his failure didn’t erase it; 

And his later victories of faith built on this. 

But what if there had been a storm? 

 Then Peter would never have stepped out.