Last Sunday, we just restarted our Mass in the Parish after four mounts without Mass with the people. It was a great joy to celebrate the Eucharist in our Church though only a few attendants. Unfortunately, on the same day, we receive some pastoral letters from some dioceses to suspend again the masses. This suspension came out as a response to the doctors, front-liners who calls for a timeout. 

Many doctors and nurses died during their duty to save the patients. Their fellow doctors and nurses keep standing in the front line fighting against this pandemic. After five months of battle, they feel somehow “losing the battle” or “burnt out” because of the new cases keep rising in number. And thus, they voice out their concern to have a timeout.   This timeout is needed to have a better plan or strategies against this pandemic. All of us indeed, need a timeout.

In sports, the term “TIMEOUT” means a brief interruption in the period of play during which the clock is stopped. Teams use time-outs to rest players, make substitutions, and plan strategies. In the medical sphere, in giving informed consent for a procedure, a brief period when the patient is left alone to reflect upon the risks, benefits, and alternatives to the proposed procedure before being asked to decide to accept or reject it.

In short, timeout aims to rest for a while, to reflect what has been done and to plan better strategies. Indeed, in this time of the pandemic, we need timeout not only for the front-liners but for all of us for the better improvement in our dealing with this crisis.

Timeout is also essential for our spiritual nourishment. In this time of crisis, we have experienced so many worries, fear, and depression. We have been affected so much. Thus, spiritually we need a time out. We need to pause. We need a break time. We need to be alone and to be alone with God. As it says “it’s not good for a man to be alone. But it’s good to be alone with God.”

What surprising us in today’s gospel is that Jesus took a timeout. After preaching the Good News, healing the sick, driving out demons, doing miracles, he went to a mountain to be alone with God, to pray. It is in this time of resting and praying that Jesus listens to his Father. It is in this moment of silence that he listens to the voice of his Father, “You are my beloved Son. Don’t be afraid.”

In this difficult time, we need to center our lives in God. We have so much reason to worry about and afraid of. And that is why we need to keep balance by giving time for our spiritual lives. Amid so many voices around us, we need to be attentive to the gentle voice of God who whispers to us in silence. In the first reading today, the prophet Eli­jah did not encounter God in the mighty wind or the earth­quake or the fire, but in the small voice (1 Kings 19:9 – 13).

Jesus says, “Go to your pri­vate room and, when you have shut your door, pray to the Father who is in that secret place” (Matt. 6:6). It is in this time of prayer that we can listen to the voice of Jesus who encourages us always, “Courage! Don’t be afraid. It’s me.” Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. Otherwise, we will be like Peter whose focus was on the strong wind. “Seeing the strong wind, he was afraid and began to sink.” Instead, let us focus on Jesus who comes to us, stretches out his hands to save us.

In this time, our families perhaps like a boat of the disciples; their boat was very far from land, dangerously rocked by the waves. And we are all worried because of the strong winds.  But, at the same time, we know that there is Someone who stronger than the wind who comes and says, “Courage! Don’t be afraid. It’s me.” May God bless and protect us. Amen.