Stop Doubting God: How to Find His Love in Your Life Again

 

Good morning everyone.

Well, my dear brothers and sisters, these readings this Sunday are inspirational.

They're beautiful.

They're exactly what I think we all need to hear.

And maybe this is the right time.

Of course, it's the right time.

It's God's time.

So let's take a look at the first reading from the book of Kings.

So Elijah was sent up to the mountain by the Lord.

And while he's up there, you see the wind.

A strong and heavy wind was rendering the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord.

I mean, crushing rocks.

I don't know if you've ever been caught hiking when a storm comes over.

It's a scary thing.

Crushing rocks, the heavy wind.

But the Lord was not there.

And then there was an earthquake.

And the Lord was not there.

And then there was a fire.

And the Lord was not there.

But the Lord was in a whispering sound.

What is that whispering sound?

What is that whispering sound?

And then in the second reading, letter to the Romans, Saint Paul is suffering.

I am in great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.

Why?

Because my people are not accepting the Lord.

The Jewish people are not accepting Jesus for the sake of my own people.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed, cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people.

I would do anything for my people to accept Jesus.

And so Saint Paul suffers.

And is in anguish.

Does it mean that he has not found God?

Where is that whisper?

What is that whisper?

And then, of course, you see the gospel.

Same thing.

Wind, heavy wind, storm, everything is happening, almost like in the first reading.

And then the apostles see this small figure in the water walking.

And Saint Peter looks and says, is that you, Lord?

Take courage.

It is I. Don't be afraid.

Lord, if it's you, command me to walk on the water.

And Jesus says, come.

And then Peter comes out.

And, you know, Lord, maybe I'm saying the wrong thing here.

But, you know, when when Jesus says, oh, you of little faith, oh, you of little faith.

Well, there were 12 guys in the boat.

And only one of them stepped out.

So I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't.

I mean, like, that's pretty courageous that that's that's faith.

Right.

You know, like you stepped out, you stepped out.

And he walked for a few seconds, maybe.

So what is this little whisper?

What is it?

Well, my dear brothers and sisters, in the first reading.

In the old times, if you saw the movie The Odyssey, you know exactly what I mean.

God was always in the storm, in the earthquake.

Lord, what have we done?

What have we done?

Why are you doing this?

Like for mythology, Greek mythology, for Egyptian mythology, for all the ancient religions, God was in the earthquake, God was in the storm, God was in the fire.

Like you are upset with us.

And isn't it remarkable for the Jewish people that God was not in any of those things?

But God is there.

He's in the whisper.

And what is the whisper?

I care about you.

That's the whisper.

Right.

Sometimes all it takes is when someone holds your hand.

And then, you know, you're cared about.

It's not someone that says, hey, let's go over the house, let's go in, let's go party, let's get together, let's go out.

Sometimes all it takes is a little hug and you feel loved.

Or you hold the person's hand and you feel loved.

Or when you see someone, they make you smile.

They make you smile.

See, that is the whisper.

That's the beauty of God.

It's not in the loud, it's not in the obnoxious, it's not in any of these things.

And for Saint Paul, even though he's in anguish, you know, how many times do people get you so upset and people get you so angry and so sad?

Your children, when they don't pay attention to what you have to say and the sacrifices that you make and still, what do you do?

You still do it.

You still do it.

Why?

Because that's the only way for you to be able to say, I care about you.

I love you.

You're mine.

And for that reason, Saint Paul is willing to continue preaching.

Instead of saying, you know what?

You're on your own.

See you, you're on your own.

Goodbye.

I'm done.

I'm done.

That's when you realize those people that say I'm done, they don't get the mission.

They don't get the mission.

It's hard.

But there is one thing I do want to ask all of you.

On page nine of the bulletin, it is our campaign that we're trying to raise 150,000 towards the parish hall renovation, which is they're working on it now.

They're about 80% complete, but we're kind of short.

So I don't ask often, but on page nine, there's a QR code.

If you can scan that code, if you can make a donation, I truly appreciate it.

I'm yours and you are mine.

And when St.

Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking, what happened?

What went wrong?

Well, OK, what is the storm?

What's the earthquake?

What's the fire?

All those ugly voices in your head.

You're not good enough.

You're a loser.

You're a failure.

What are people going to say about me?

The storm, the earthquake, the fire is another way of saying all those ugly voices in your head.

And all those ugly voices outside your head.

All those people that say, you can't do this.

Who do you think you are?

You're nothing.

And that's what happens.

Because what happened with Peter was that as long as he stayed focused on Jesus, as long as he stayed stayed focused on what is good, right and holy, beautiful, then you're going to be OK. You're going to suffer.

But you're going to hear the voice, I care about you, don't you?

But if you start listening to those voices in your head or outside your head, then you're going to start failing and you're going to start sinking.

And there are people like that.

In this world, there are very few people that really care about you.

I'm going to give you an example.

Just a couple of days ago, I went to CVS to pick up a prescription.

And on the top of the jar or the bottle that had the pills was this thing.

You see this?

On top of the jar, like when you open it, this is right on top.

What is this?

This is all the things that could go wrong if you take this medicine.

This has to be a hundred pages in Times Roman font 12.

Look at this thing.

Look at this.

It's got chemical bombs.

Look at this.

Look at this.

This is a hundred pages of what could go wrong.

And this is for acid reflux medicine.

Look at this.

Look at this.

Nobody reads this.

Nobody.

And everybody knows it.

Even the person that made this.

Even the person who made this knows that you will not read this.

But we're covering ourselves.

We're covering ourselves.

Imagine having a job that everything that you do, nobody will ever read.

I didn't even open up the whole thing.

Look at this.

Front and back.

What does this tell you?

We put our...

And what am I supposed to do?

I'm supposed to read this and then decide I'm not going to take the medicine.

Even though my doctor says, don't worry about it.

It's okay.

Did you read this, doctor?

No.

And then we say...

And then people say to you, oh, you believe in faith?

You have faith in God?

Yeah.

Because you know why?

At least I know he whispers to me.

And he really cares about me.

He's not trying to cover himself.

He's not trying to legal jumble, mumble, jumble.

No.

He cares about us.

How do we know he cares about us?

Because if you get anything out of this homily...

I'm not even sure if this made a good connection, but anyways.

Peter's prayer says it all.

Three words, Lord, save me.

And what do they say?

What did St.

Matthew write in the gospel?

Immediately, the Lord stretched out his hand and grabbed him.

Immediately.

What is the whisper that you have to be very attentive to?

Otherwise, you'll miss it, that the Lord cares about us.

Amen.

Now, I have to fold this for the next homily.

Filling the Hole in Your Heart: How to finally heal your loneliness

 

A Worried Young Woman and a Word from Scripture

This morning I went to breakfast with a beautiful family. We were talking about life and love and weddings, and I talked a little bit about my family and my parents. I probably said too many things, because then a young lady who was my student said to me, “Wow, there are so many things to worry about.” She told me she might be getting engaged pretty soon, and I think I made her worry.

I believe today’s readings can help us put our hearts to rest.

The reading says, “All you who are thirsty, come to the water.” Well, yeah. Obviously. “Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?” That part, that part is significant.

That word satisfy is important. It shows up again in the gospel, where after Jesus multiplied the bread and gave it out to everyone, the people ate and were satisfied. To be satisfied in your life. The hand of the Lord feeds us and answers all our needs.

Then Paul asks, “What will separate me from the love of Christ?” Most of us do not have to worry about persecution or famine or the sword. But we have other things. Loneliness. Illness. Rejection. Trials. Difficulties. Those are the fears we carry in our hearts.

So when the Lord says, “All you who are thirsty, come to the water,” he is really saying: all of you who are looking for more in your life, come to me. The Lord is the water. And all of you spending your energy on what fails to satisfy, come to me.

The Lamborghini and the Little Boy

A couple of days ago I celebrated my birthday. I made it. I am 61 years old.

A wonderful family asked me what we could do to celebrate, and I said why don’t we invite my mom, my sister, my brother-in-law, a couple of friends, some families I know well, and go out to dinner. The meal did not settle well. I felt bloated and a little sick to my stomach afterward. It is a great place, do not get me wrong, but that night it just was not good.

So I said to everyone, let’s go for a walk. It was around 9:30 or 10 o’clock at night. We were walking along, and all of a sudden we see this car. A Lamborghini. That sound, that unmistakable engine sound. (watch the video for Father doing sound effects, timestamp 4:31) There was a seventh-grade boy with us, part of one of the families, and his mouth just dropped open. It was a beautiful car.

The Lamborghini slowed down, then stopped, then backed up. The passenger-side window came down, and the driver leaned over and said to the boy, “You want to come in?”

The kid was starstruck. 

We all looked at each other. Who is this guy? Then he opened the driver’s door, and it opened up with a ssssss. The boy got into the driver’s seat and was just thrilled out of his mind. We were all happy for him, taking pictures. I ended up in the back of the car where the engine sits, and the driver stepped on the gas from outside. I felt like my pants were on fire. The heat, the energy. It was just amazing.

We thanked the driver, he took off, and a little further down the road we saw he had parked the Lamborghini outside a restaurant. Probably the owner, who knows.

On the drive home I kept thinking about it. The scripture came back to me. “Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?”

That driver had more pleasure seeing the look on that little boy’s face than from the Lamborghini itself. The fact that he could make that boy’s night, that he chose to stop, to back up, to ask the kid if he wanted to see inside, that was the thing that brought him joy.

When you buy something, it might give you pleasure for six months. Maybe. Then it is over. But what brings you greater joy is what you least expect, and that is when you are able to give something. To show love. To bring excitement to someone else. To do something special for someone else.

This is the beauty of what God does for us. He does not just give us things. He gives us the satisfaction, the love that goes with it.

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The Fountain That Beat Six Flags

I remember many years ago taking a family to Six Flags. Four kids, their mom, and me. Do you know what you spend 80 percent of your time doing at Six Flags? Waiting in line. You spend a fortune to wait in line. We had a good time, but we spent a fortune.

Afterward we went to get ice cream in Richardson, and nearby there was a little courtyard with a fountain that shoots water up into the air. The kids played in that fountain, and they had more fun there than in the hundreds of dollars we had spent at Six Flags all day.

Why? Because they were together. They were having fun. It was simple and it was good. It is hard to fully describe, but they were family, and that was enough.

My Greatest Life Lesson

At dinner on my birthday, someone asked me what I had learned in 61 years of life. I gave some answer on the spot that I do not even remember now. But driving home that night, after everything that had happened, I finally knew what I wanted to say.

In 61 years, the most important thing I have learned is this: I am not God. I need God. And thank God I have God, who brings meaning and purpose to our lives.

He is the water we are looking for.

Think about it this way. Imagine if you had a stomach and there was no food in the world. Imagine if you were created with a throat and there was nothing to drink. Imagine if you were given a tongue but could not speak. What an awful thing, to be created with a need and have nothing to fill it.

Now imagine a world where you are looking for love and there is no love to be found. Or you feel lonely and there is no companionship anywhere.

This is what makes life so remarkable. If you are looking for love, there is love. If you are looking for meaning, there is meaning. If you are looking for food, go to the grocery store. If you are looking for something to drink, go to the fountain. Everything you are looking for exists. You just have to go to the right place.

Come to me. All you who are thirsty, come to the water.

There Is No Reason to Turn Anyone Away

One more thing from the gospel. The crowd had been with Jesus for hours. They were tired, hungry, and it was getting late. The disciples wanted to send everyone home. And Jesus said, “There is no reason to turn them away.”

Thank God he said that. Because it means you can come to him for everything. Whatever you are looking for, this is the place.

That is the difference between a seventh grader and a 61-year-old. At that age, you feel strong, you feel like you can do it all yourself, and you want the fancy things. Then as you get older, you begin to realize there is only one thing you need. You just need to know that you are loved. That is it. That is enough.

I am not God. I need God. And thank God I have God.