Signs

July 23, 2018

Signs are necessary tools when we don’t know where we are. One sign can save us from getting lost. Signs point us in the right direction, or tell us what to do, or indicate something important, or explain what we are looking at, or tell us how far we have to go. Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago follow one simple yellow arrow painted on the sides of buildings, on street curbs, on trees in the forest, on fences, on the ground, on anything along the way to help the pilgrim move forward. I never knew that I could actually develop a relationship with a sign. When I walked the Camino the yellow arrow became my best friend and a symbol of grace leading me along a beautiful mysterious journey. My only job was to find the arrow and to follow it. One painted yellow arrow navigated me across two countries. One yellow arrow kept me found. One yellow arrow gave me all I needed to direct my steps. One yellow arrow let me know where I was and where I was going. This still blows my mind. Spiritually, my only vocation is to find the signs of grace and to follow them. Signs are necessary when we don’t know where we are going. 

Today the Pharisees show us just how lost they really were by saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” Jesus must have been gobsmacked (dumfounded) by their willful ignorance to read all the signs given up to this point. Are you kidding me guys, a sign? Healing lepers, restoring sight to the blind, feeding thousands, and raising peeps from the dead are not clear enough for you? Raise your hand if you know someone that is navigationally challenged and can get lost even with a map or GPS. Jesus quickly recognizes that these religious leaders were lacking faith and that He needed to pull out the big guns in the way of a “sign”. “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given itexcept the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earththree days and three nights.” Here we have a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own passion, death, and resurrection for those that still manage to be lost. 

The Pharisees wanted magic tricks and I totally get it because a lot of times when my faith is weak, I also want a magic trick. I want miraculous healing for my friends with cancer, or I want a voice from heaven to tell me exactly what I’m supposed to do, or I want to win the lottery. I negotiate these things with God guaranteeing Him that if any of these magic tricks were to occur; I’d be all in. However, when my faith is deeply grounded and I use the yellow arrows of grace given to me daily, when I open my eyes and see the extraordinary in the ordinary, when I encounter the magic in the present moment, when I know exactly where I am and whose I am because of a solid prayer life, then I recognize that the signs are all around me. I am constantly being moved forward by faith, hope, and love. These are the yellow arrows and my only vocation is to see them and follow them.

My prayer is that we direct our steps toward the yellow arrows of grace and stop demanding magic tricks. The enchantment of the resurrection should be the only sign we need to go all in. Have an enchanting day and it is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 MI 6:1-4, 6-8

Hear what the LORD says:
Arise, present your plea before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice!
Hear, O mountains, the plea of the LORD,
pay attention, O foundations of the earth!
For the LORD has a plea against his people,
and he enters into trial with Israel.

O my people, what have I done to you,
or how have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
from the place of slavery I released you;
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.

With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow before God most high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with myriad streams of oil?
Shall I give my first-born for my crime,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
You have been told, O man, what is good,
and what the LORD requires of you:
Only to do the right and to love goodness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

Responsorial Psalm PS 50:5-6, 8-9, 16BC-17, 21 AND 23

R. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Gather my faithful ones before me,
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
And the heavens proclaim his justice;
for God himself is the judge.
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
“When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
R. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Alleluia PS 95:8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MT 12:38-42

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
He said to them in reply,
“An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
and there is something greater than Solomon here.”