God Whispers

Seeing God’s presence through the eyes of faith

11/26/2020

Luke 17:11-19 As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten persons with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

I recently received an email that I want to share with you. It was called “God Whispers.” It contained a series of slides with stunning pictures, melodramatic music and the following dialogue between a man and God. The first slide showed a lovely little bird and read: “The man whispered, ‘God speak to me’ and a meadowlark sang. But the man did not hear.” The second slide displayed a thunderstorm and lightning and continued: “So the man yelled, ‘God speak to me!’ and the thunder rolled across the sky. But the man did not listen.” The third slide showed a shimmering sunset and commented: “The man looked around and said, ‘God let me see you.’ And the sun shone brightly. But the man did not see.”

The fourth slide contained a crying, cuddly baby, and said, “And the man shouted, ‘God, show me a miracle!’ And a life was born. But the man did not notice.” The sixth and final slide displayed a delicate butterfly perched on a fine flower, saying: “So, the man cried out in despair, ‘Touch me, God, and let me know you are here.’ Whereupon God reached down and touched the man. But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.” And then the email concluded: “Don’t miss out on a blessing because it isn’t packaged the way you expect.” And then it asked me to pass it along to everyone in my email list I wanted to receive this unexpected blessing. I hate those emails that make you feel guilty in order to do good. That’s my job as a Catholic priest!

I wanted to share that email with all of you because God does indeed bless us in so many ways – even through cheesy emails – but we might miss them. Stuart Chase, the economist and philosopher, said: “For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe no proof is possible.” In other words, when you look at the world through the eyes of faith you see God’s hand everywhere. But without faith we are like that man who does not see, does not hear and does not feel God’s presence anywhere.

In the gospel from Luke 17, Jesus performs a miraculous cure for ten men suffering from leprosy. Amazingly, though, nine of them go on their merry way after having been healed, oblivious to Jesus’ miracle. These nine lepers are identical to the man in the email, begging God to touch them and when God does, they fail to notice. One man, however, does feel God’s touch and returns to give thanks. Stuart Chase nailed it about the nine lepers and the Samaritan: “For those who believe no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe no proof is possible.” That is, the Samaritan looked through the eyes of faith and easily saw God’s presence everywhere; the nine could not see God’s presence anywhere.

My friends, this Thanksgiving I invite you to look around at the world with the eyes of faith and see God’s presence everywhere. It is easy to see God’s touch in the turkey and the tree and the time of year. But one place no one wants to find God is in the midst of suffering and illness. But that is exactly where the Samaritan found Jesus’ healing grace most powerfully and personally. I look back on my Covid quarantine and can see God’s hands all over my sickness. I was stuck like a prisoner in my room, but Fr. Daniel brought me three meals a day to my door. One day, the school children serenaded us from the parking lot. Parishioners prepared a parade of meals they put at our backdoor. It is easy to see God’s presence when you’re sick because you lie on your back looking up to heaven.

Yesterday I received an email from a parishioner who asked for my prayers after a devastating diagnosis of cancer. But she also surprisingly added: “I am convinced God has a plan and I am leaving it in his hands.” In other words, it may be a lot easier to see God in sunsets and storms, in butterflies and babies, in flowers and faces. But with the eyes of faith, we can even see him in our cancer and our crosses. Remember the poem “Footprints in the Sand”? During our illnesses we see only one set of footprints. Why? It’s not because we are walking alone and God has abandoned us, but rather, that is when God carries us.

Let me leave you with how C. S. Lewis learned to listen to God. The great Christian apologist looked around the world with the eyes of faith, and wrote: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world” (The Problem of Pain, 91). Let us listen when God whispers so he does not have to resort to shouting.

Praised be Jesus Christ!