This story of Elijah has a very important religious message, but one which has a very significant opposite. For Elijah, the Lord was in the gentle breeze, as Psalm 46:10 encourages us: "Be still and know that I am God".

Interior silence is a special factor of true spirituality. Elijah's story affirms "the Lord was not in the wind"; "the Lord was not in the earthquake"; "the Lord was not in the fire". Yet St Ignatius has taught us to find God in everything, or as some spiritual masters prefer to interpret it: God can find us in anything.

In our somewhat fragile world, so broken up by our human abuse, we do well to reflect: can God be for us in the earthquake, the typhoon, the fire, the tsunami, the coronavirus?