"I long to see your face, O Lord."

The response to today's Psalm says, ''I long to see your face, O Lord.'' A spiritual retreat is a special time when we try to become more aware of the presence of God in our lives. A retreat director often sets the tone at the beginning with a quote from Psalm 46, verse 10 which says, ''Be still and know that I am God.'' That is the message of today's first reading from 1 Kings 9: 11-16. The prophet Elijah is sleeping in a cave on Mount Horeb when he was told to go and stand outside because the Lord was about to pass by. Elijah waits and a mighty destructive wind came but the Lord was not in the hurricane. Then came an earthquake and a fire, but the Lord was not in them. Finally, there came a gentle breeze and it is then that Elijah discovered that the Lord was present. Does a battered wife find God in the presence of an angry and violent husband? Do the Christians in Ukraine, the Muslims in Gaza and the Budhists in Myanmar find God in the bombs and missiles that fall upon them? No, they are longing for the gentle breeze of peace. Let us pray the words that Saint Oscar Romero said on the radio to the military the day before he was assassinated. ''In the name of God, in the name of our suffering people, I beseech you, I implore you, in the name of God, I command you, stop this oppression,'' Amen.