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18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A - 6/8/2017 - Gospel: Mt 14:13-21
Natural Phenomenon
The natural forces such as a cloud and wind, lightning and thunder, they are all obeyed and they are there for purposes that God had intended them to be. They had been created from the beginning of the world and sometimes God employed them to reveal God's work in the world. We recall in the Old Testament, God used the natural phenomena such as earthquake on earth then followed by strong mighty winds and clouds in the sky and flames burning from a bush or a combination of these elements prior to the appearance of God Gen cc19-23. In other words the whole natural world was ready welcoming the arriving of the Lord. The idea behind these natural phenomena was that God used creations to serve God. They would always obey God as their Creator and would have never questioned their Creator.

The Feast of the Transfiguration employed to the same concept of the Old Testament relating to the natural phenomena that God is the Lord of the forces of nature. They were parts of the natural world, apart from God's interference, and would be faithful to the rules of nature. The Patriarch, Moses and Elijah and the apostles were eye witnesses to these significant events. The Transfiguration of Jesus opened the eyes of the apostles to see that the lives of the Patriarch were ended on earth and be transformed to a new life in God's kingdom. They were departing the earth and returning to the One whom they had been for years to love and to serve faithfully and now they accompanied God on the mountain. The second point about the presence of the Patriarch was that Moses who obeyed God and had received the Ten Commandments. He was embodied, representing of the Law which came from God and that is the law of love: love God and love our neighbours. Prophet Elijah was representing the prophets whom God sent from time to time to remind his people, calling them to observe the law of love and be faithful to God and that God's wrath would pass them by.

With modern technology we can understand and explain the cause and effects of the natural forces and we hope to predict before what is going to happen. We can do it by analysing the movements of signs and symptoms of the natural forces.

The Patriarchs were not looking for answers about the movements of nature. They wanted to go beyond the forces of nature to learn about God's voice. How often we read about God's voice speaking behind the clouds and that is what they were looking for. For them the forces of nature didn't simply happen but there was a message and they wanted to decode the message. With faith they were looking for clues to understand God's will.

In the New Testament the apostles were surprised wondered whom Jesus was when he gave a command and even the mighty winds would drop and storm would obey and the sea calmed again Mk 4,35-41.
Medical doctors have tests and look for signs and symptoms to diagnose or predict the coming sicknesses. We Christians need to examine our minds and hearts closely to see what is happening into our inner lives. When storms come to our family and when we feel that life is heavy and over burden we need to examine them to see what is going on. What these significant events are telling us and through them can we learn about life and faith life.

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