Monday of 16th week, even numbered year "Jesus answered them ’It is an evil and unfaithful generation that asks for a sign! The only sign it will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonas.’
What the scribes and Pharisees ask to see is an amazing sign that will confirm that Jesus has a messianic role.
Jesus speaks of ’a bad and adulterous generation, a class of individuals inclined to do evil, demanding a sign.
The sign of the Resurrection is signalled by three days and nights which the Son of man will spend in the earth. ’Three days and thee nights’. Here is an expression that has us think straight away of the death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus stayed in his tomb three days and three nights afterwhich He was risen.
The resurrection amongst the dead is a sign that Jesus gave. After Jesus’ resurrection the world no longer saw Jesus. The disciples saw Jesus after the Resurrection, the bad and adulterous generation is unable to perceive this sig for itself. It would need to make an act of faith that was determined one towards Jesus He who announces the Beauty of The Face of God.
Mary, Jesus’ Mother, is here to help us.
We ask for the grace to walk humbly in faith at the school of Mary and with the help of all the saints.
The Immaculate Virgin Mary knew how to contemplate God. : he places his gaze on his humble servant it is through he mystery of humanity that we can adhere to it.
Jesus gives us the sign of the Resurrection and this sign will be a manifestation of the power of God and his Infinite Love.
For as Jonas remained din the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so will the Son of man be in the earth for three days and thee nights."
Jesus gives the sign of Jonas who stays three days and nights in the whale’s stomach just a she will be in the earth. Jonas had refused to listen to God and h e made serval efforts to get out of this mission.
In the end he goes to Nineveh and the town repented whilst hearing what he had to say.
But instead of being happy about it he became angry. In his mind it wasn’t a question of showing compassion to a pagan people. Jonas only became a sign for the Nineties when he had spent three days and nights in the whales’ stomach. In the same way, Jesus will become sign for us in virtue of his death and resurrection. And just as Jonas became a sign after the miraculous event of the fish, likewise Jesus will be a sign for us after the miracle of the resurrection.
After his Resurrection Jesus’ apparitions were limited to his disciples. The Pharisees and scribes never saw him again. ’The world will no longer see me.’
Jesus aid ’The son of man will be a sign’ this expression comes from the prophet Daniel wo was ablme to see ’come on the clouds of heaven ’ someone similar to a son of man.
“On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and they will be its condemnation, because when Jonas preached they repented ; and look, there is something greater here than Jonas.”
Jesus is present to his disciples in the symbol of a vine. ’ I am the Vine and my father is the vinedresser’.
The vine symbolises a person, Jesus but it also comes back to several people, to all those who make up the Church.
Jesus is the true Vine but we also are this vine since he assimilates us to the branches of this same vine. It designs Jesus and all believers who have a organic relationship with Him. In the same way, the Son of man is at the same time a person and several persons linked by a spiritual union with Christ.
The luminous truth of the presence of Jesus Christ in the believer appears several time sin the writings of St Paul in the expression ’Christ in you.’
The place of the greatest love will always be the mystery of the Cross in his Passion and that of Mary in her Compassion. This is the place of our birth, Mary is born from the open wound of Jesus’ heart, this is where everything is revealed everything is given to her. From now on very word, every gesture and
every sign of Love are given to us by Jesus so as to remain in the mystery of Jesus who has us be born to Divine Life.
Monday 16th Week, uneven numbered year “There is much more than Salomon here” Ex.14,5-18 Ct Ex.15 Mt.12,38-42 "Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah" Jesus doesn’t push away signs, but he refuses to give the kind of signs that ’this generation’ askes for. Jesus promises and gives his own sign of his, which is true certitude, that is, the very Person of Jesus Himself, in His Word and in the whole of his person : this is the sign for all generations to come. It is a very profound sign which we need to keep taking up in meditation : ’Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, declares Jesus to Philip who asked ’Show us the Father.’ This generation who demands a sign is likely to find itself in a ’vicious circle’. ! When a new sign will be given it will be necessary to ask for another one again, then another, and so it will be necessary to have an act of faith. Just like the scribes and Pharisees we have a hard time in making a true act of faith! Jesus’ mother, Mary, believed. She never came back on her decision made with an act of faith! We too live from faith, and it is little by little that faith grows stronger, when the light of faith eclipses at night and we find ourselves going through ordeals. This faith in the Love which God gives us is the faith that has us walk whatever the cost, especially when hardships come along. But when light eclipses and we ask once more for a sign, we enter into contestation devoid of hope. To be converted means not to live as the world lives not to do what everyone else does, not to feel justified in doing ambiguous or bad actions, just because others do likewise. “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.” We want to see and in doing so acquire certitudes, but the Father made Himself visible in the Son, and seeing Jesus in faith is the answer. In him we receive the sign, the reality shown by itself. It is the extraordinary sign of Jesus’ presence throughout all generations, this strength of the person of Jesus drawing the whole of humanity to Himself. Our desire is to move forward, our eyes on Jesus He is the Master of the combat for the Truth. We want to be in a heart to heart with Him in the night of faith. At times we can be in situations where we can’t stand it any more and can’t see light at the end of the tunnel. This when God, in Crucified Jesus, gives us the victory. We need to hold out right till the end, in the joy of having a Master such as Jesus. When suffering in aguish, not knowing where to look anymore, looking towards Jesus saves us. We form a body in Him He lives in us and brings us to victory. “The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.” To see Jesus and to learn top see Him means to always begin again in anew beginning. This is The Sign we need to always rediscover. Seeing Jesus, contemplating Him in his unexhaustive Words, in the mysteries of the Nativity, In the mysteries of the hidden life, In the mysteries of public life In the Paschal mystery, In the sacraments, In Church history. We look to Mary who pronounced his name with so much respect and Love. We listen to he Apostles who tell us very strongly : ’In the Name of Jesus Christ, may every being fall to their knees, in Heaven, one earth and in the abyss.’ We need to keep on hoping in life for Jesus has won the combat of the whole of humanity. He has saved us on the Cross. Our spiritual life is very often thrown around amidst the storms, with our poor little boat almost turned over, shaken! Our desire is to remain rooted in the Heart of Jesus, and hold out in our combat when the adversary aims at drilling our house from every angle. We follow the Lord Our God without giving up, for this is the time of Victory. We ask for the grace to contemplate Jesus, Saviour of the world.