Elijah ran away from the curses Queen Jezebel poured out. He asked God to take him up, but he couldn’t hear God (too much noise). Elijah just automatically assumed he would starve himself to death. "Run!!! Get away from the evil and die. Maybe then I’ll be OK." Physically and emotionally exhausted from the unstopping, ugly actions of the Queen and her consorts, Elijah ran!. But an angel gave him bread and water and told him "Get up and Go!!!" Oh darn. Gotta get up and go. Angel says so. When he got to Horeb… He finally found… peace. (A still small voice).
God doesn’t fail. He pours out Peace and Grace. There are many references to this in the Old and New Testaments. Think about a giant pitcher full of grace being poured out over the earth. God started pouring Grace out at the beginning when the Holy Spirit Graced the waters. And God doesn’t stop pouring. But what if we are not open? What if we are closed and shuttered against goodness being poured out on us. We are bitter, angry, defensive, protecting ourselves from "being hurt." We look out of our shuttered selves and we see… anger, shouting, muggings, killings, abortions,… We shake our heads and close the shutter. If I sit in church and look around, some of the people have said ugly things about what they believe vs what I believe. They have shaken me to the core with their mean spirited comments about the Pope and the President about whom I was taught to be respectful. Respect seems to have gone by the wayside, but not for me. I have answered people with my "peaceful" thoughts and I get rejected. I get called names and I get labeled. I say "Don’t label me anything except ‘Child of God.’" But still it hurts. I get depressed and I hide. But that is when I block off the Grace pouring out. God needs me out and open. He needs me to "Raise up my heart… Open your hearts," Jesus says. In the Gospel, Jesus says to the Pharisees, "Moses had to make laws because of your hard heartedness, but here is the REAL law. Love One Another." My friend, Yes, the world is crazy right now, but there is peace. I find it at the Altar in a Catholic church. You have to find it too. Let us continue our friendship and talking to each other. Let us open our hearts to each other. Let us accept the Grace being poured out. God bless us. OH Wait!!! He does! He has been pouring out that overflowing pitcher of "living water" since Creation!!! Thank You Jesus!