Deacon Randy Kiel returns to The Catholic Morning Show for his weekly preview of the Sunday readings, taking listeners to the mouth of a cave on Mount Horeb where Elijah — hunted by Jezebel and forty days into the wilderness — waits for God to pass by. Wind, earthquake and fire all come and go before Elijah recognizes the Lord in a tiny whispering sound, a scene Deacon Randy calls a beautiful illustration that we shouldn't look too hard to see God. He then turns to Romans 9, where St. Paul says he would rather be cut off himself than see his own people fail to believe, and connects it to the ache every Catholic feels for loved ones who have left the faith.
The readings for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time — Sunday, August 9, 2026
Read along at the USCCB.
Elijah at Horeb Deacon Randy sets the scene: Elijah is running for his life under a death sentence from Jezebel, carrying a message from God and sustained along the way — fed under the broom tree, given drink — before a forty-day journey brings him to Mount Horeb, also called Mount Sinai, arguably the most famous place on earth for God's physical presence. He shelters in a cave, possibly the same one tradition associates with Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. Told to go out and stand on the mountain because the Lord will pass by, Elijah watches a wind strong enough to crush rocks, then an earthquake, then a fire — and God is in none of them. Only in the tiny whispering sound does he recognize the Lord, hide his face in his cloak, and go stand at the entrance of the cave. Deacon Randy's takeaway: God was present the whole time, not confined to the manifestations of nature. Don't look too hard to see Him. Look lightly. He's here. He also traces the reading back to the old hymn "Rock of Ages."
Paul's agony in Romans 9 Deacon Randy sits with the force of Paul's opening — speaking the truth in Christ, conscience joined with the Holy Spirit — and the astonishing thing Paul says next: that he would accept being cut off himself if it meant his brethren would come to believe. Israel had been given adoption, glory, the covenants, the law, worship, the promises, the patriarchs, and still many did not believe. It's an agony, Deacon Randy says, that Catholics know firsthand with their own loved ones. His invitation: pray for them, align our hearts with Paul's, and ask the Lord for the grace to sit in the presence of that still small voice that says I am with you.
Deacon Randy Kiel joins The Catholic Morning Show each Thursday to prepare listeners for Sunday. Catch this and every segment at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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