Posted by The WORD in other words (2017) by Father Raymun Festin SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – A
“The eternal silence of the infinite spaces terrifies me,” Blaise Pascal writes in his Pensées. He is referring to the vast magnificence of the universe that inspires awe and terror in us.
Nature or the created world never fails to fascinate us. On the shoreline before dawn, the sheer beauty and quietude of the ocean can overwhelm us. On a fine evening, we can be awe-striken by the gleaming and serene vaults of the heavens.
But nature is not all soundless and stillness. Nature too can be very violent. Think of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, fire and typhoons. There is no greater fury than nature in tantrums. We seek nature’s solitude but we also flee her wrath.
The ancient Greeks styled nature as phusis (the root word of physics) which means both ripping apart and repairing what was rent asunder — think of the calmness after the fury of a storm. But beyond nature’s power there is the majesty of the Divine Creator, the Eternal Silence.
In the first reading, Yahweh comes to Elijah in “a light silent sound.” The sound of nature is no match in the silent presence of God. In the Gospel, the disciples encounter nature in its terrifying moment — the implacable wind and the roaring waves. But nature’s fit of temper is pacified by Jesus’ quiet, reassuring presence.
It intrigues us why dis Jesus walk in the water. Was he playing prank on his disciples? Did he mean to scare them? OR did he want to show off his divine power? No. Jesus’ gliding over the foaming waters was the result of his communion with God the Father in the solitude of the mountain. So intense was his prayer that he simply levitated effortlessly. He count not help but be literally pulled upwards to God’s silent presence, defying Newton’s law of gravity.
It is said that the more a person is attuned to God’s presence in prayerful silence, the more she or he exerts power over nature. Saint Dominic Savio and Saint Vincent Ferrer are examples of such persons respectively levitating when rapt in prayer and comptemplation, and gifted with bi-location. Poor Peter was not ready to levitate because of his fears. He should have maintained his focus on Jesus as he tried to navigate the restless waves.
Leonardo da Vinci once said that true power and authority shows itself in silence. Jesus’ divine power was manifested in great silence before Pilate who mistakenly thought he could intimidate Jesus. People who wield authority and command in voluntary respect know the secret of prayerful solitude. Saint Paul of Tarsus, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Saint Theresa of Calcutta, Saint John of the Cross and others are such kinds of persons. They are well acquainted with prayerful silence, its mystery and its meaning.
How about our honorable politicians? Ahh, they are like clanging bells and noisy gongs spewing out tons of words, full of sound and fury, yet signifying nothing.
