Monday of 16th Week, uneven numbered year
“Jesus replied ’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 Jonah. for as Jonah remained in the belly of the sea monster for three days and three nights, so will the Son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.”
Jesus does not push signs away, but he he refuses the kind of sign that ’this generation asks for’. Jesus gives a promise his own sign. Such is the sign for all generations : the true certitude, Jesus Himself, the Person of Jesus, in His Word and in the whole of his personality. It is a most profound reply and we need to come back and contemplate on its meaning.
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”affirms Jesus to Philip who asked: ’Show us the Father.“This generation that demands a sign is likely to get into a ’vicious circle”! When a new sign will be given to it, another one will have to be asked for, then another, whereas one should simply make an act of faith. These scribes and Pharisees are like us, we have a hard time making a real act of faith! Jesus’ Mother, Mary, believed. She never came back on a decision she had made in faith! We too live by faith , but it is progressively, when the night of faith eclipses during the night, and when we are going through trials, that faith becomes stronger. This faith in the Love that God gives to us is the faith that has us walk forward whatever may happen, especially when we are going through difficulties. But when the light eclipses and we ask for another sign, then we enter into a contestation without hope.
“on Judgement Day the men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and they will be its condemnation, because when Jonah preached they repented; and look, there is something greater than Jonah here.”
To be converted means to not live like everyone else does, not to do as everyone else does, not to feel justified by accomplishing ambiguous acts or bad ones, by the fact that others do them. We wish to see and acquire certitude but it is in the Son that the Father made Himself visible; seeing Jesus is the response.We receive the sign, the reality that shows itself. It is the extraordinary sign of Jesus’ Presence throughout all generations, this strength of his person that draws to Him the whole of humanity. We want to move forward in looking to Jesus, He who is the Master of the combat for Truth, in a heart to heart with Him who is the Lord, in the night of faith. We can find ourselves to be in situations where we are at the end of our tether and can’t stand it anymore. It is at this very moment when God, in the Crucified Jesus, gives us His Victory. We must stand firm right to the end in the Joy of having a Master like Jesus. When we are in a state of anguish and don’t know where to turn, in suffering or in agony, we turn to Jesus and we are saved. We form a body with Him, He lives in us and we carry away the Victory.
“On Judgment Day the Queen of the South, Saba, will appear against this generation and be its condemnation, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look, there is something greater than Solomon here.”
“Let us ask for the grace to contemplate Jesus the Saviour of the world.”
To see Jesus and learn to see Him is something we always have to begin again. This is the Sign we have to always discover. To see Jesus, contemplate Him in His endless Words in the mysteries of the Nativity, in the mystery of the hidden life, in the Paschal mystery, in the sacraments, in the history of the Church. we take a look at Mary who pronounced the name of Jesus with so much Love. We listen to the Apostles tell us with strength : “In the name of Jesus, that all living creatures fall on their knees, in heaven, on earth and in the abyss.” We have to maintain hope in our lives for Jesus won the combat for the whole of humanity, He saved us on the Cross. Our spiritual life is often in a whirl, our hot air balloon is wavering
in the wind! Our desire is to remain firmly anchored in the Heart of Jesus, hold steadfast in our combat when the opponent wants to riddle our house with holes everywhere. We follow the Living God without giving up for it is the time of victory.