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Tag: Jesus is the sign

  • SIGNS AND MEANINGS

    SIGNS AND MEANINGS

    October 14, 2024 – Monday 28th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101424.cfm)

    Everywhere we look at, there are many signs around us. Depending on its intended us, a particular sign will tell us what it is about. For example, a red light in an intersection, would tell us that cars should stop and let those other side of the intersection pass through since they have the green light. In a water dispenser, a red colored faucet means hot water while the green or blue means cold water.

    There are also natural signs around us. When we see thick and dark clouds above us, most likely rain will come in few minutes or hours. After an earthquake, when the sea would recede quickly, surely, there will be a tsunami after.

    Aside from these, there are also human emotional signs that we have to be aware of. When a person who withdraws into the recesses of his/her room, feeling sad or anxious and lonely, the person might be already undergoing depression. A person who feels afraid and terrified over particular  another person, event or place, the person might have a traumatic experience associated in those things.

    These are just few examples of different signs around us and of their meanings. And it is also important that we are able to understand them and so respond appropriately to every particular situation.

    In today’s Gospel, we too are reminded of signs. Jesus was asked by the people to give them sign before they believe in him and in what he showed them. The people seemed to believe rather that Jesus was like a magician who would do out of this world signs that would entertain them. Their demand to give them a sign was rather, a sign as well, that they have not able to understand the greatest sign already given to them.

    Jesus was the greatest sign ever revealed by the Father. Yet, their unbelieving and malicious hearts made them close-minded. Even when the sign was in front of them, they refused to see and recognized God’s greatest sign of love and salvation.

    St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians reminds us that such attitude and way of life is a sign that these people still like with the yoke of slavery. It was slavery of hatred and indifference, the slavery of malice and selfishness. Hence, they were not free.

    However, Jesus desires that we indeed become free. Again St. Paul told us, “for freedom Christ set us free.” The very presence of Jesus in us brings us to freedom!

    Thus, as we come to understand the many signs around us, may we also become more attuned and familiar to the signs the Lord gives us. These signs from the Lord, and his presence revealed to us may not be extra-ordinary or spectacular, but simple and ordinary. Let us be discerning and patient then and make ourselves free from anything that would prevent us from recognizing and embracing God’s many manifestations in our life and relationships. Hinaut pa.

  • How to recognize God’s signs

    How to recognize God’s signs

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    July 20, 2020 – Monday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/072020.cfm)

    Homily

    As the pandemic developed and caused great difficulties all over the world, many have interpreted this event as a sign of the apocalyptic days or the end of the world. In fact, many tragic events in the past were also taken as signs of the end of the world. This caused panic and anxiety among those who really believed on this.

    Moreover, it has been our attitude to seek for signs especially when we are confused and filled with unanswered questions. We also ask God to give us signs when we are in the situation of making decisions. We also ask signs from God especially when we become doubtful of His presence and when we experience problems and trials in life. We believe that if God would give us a sign, then, that will make us confident in God.

    However, it has been our experience too, that when we do not receive any sign from God, we begin to doubt more or become angry with God for not listening to us. We may also think that life is so unfair because even a single sign of assurance is not given to us.

    Yet, we remind ourselves today of our tendency to expect impressive signs that will unfold before us. This is actually the problem that we have heard in our readings today. We are reminded of these two attitudes in us namely, our forgetfulness of God’s blessings and coldness towards God’s presence.

    The Book of Prophet Micah reminds us of this first tendency in us, of our short memory and inclination to forget God’s blessings. This is how Yahweh expressed the Divine plea to the people. God reminded the people how they were saved and brought out from Egypt and were released from slavery. Moreover, God sent instruments to guide the people like Moses, Aaron and Miriam. These events and people were signs of God’s blessings yet, the people have forgotten all of these. The people have become ungrateful to God because of their forgetfulness.

    Likewise, our Gospel today reminds us also of our tendency to become cold towards God’s presence. This has been portrayed the way people asked Jesus for a sign so that they will believe in him. The people expected Jesus to do a big and great sign before their eyes before they will recognize God. They thought of Jesus to be some kind of magician. This was the mistake of the people at that time because they asked sign from Jesus, when, in fact, Jesus himself was the greatest sign and miracle that ever happened.

    That is why, Jesus, as if scolding them of their ignorance and indifference, reminded them on how the Ninevites believed in Jonah’s sign and on how the Queen of Sheba believed also in the signs present with King Solomon. However, these people though Jesus was greater than Jonah and Solomon, did not recognize God in the person of Jesus.

    This happens also to us when we tend to be indifferent to what is ordinary. The Jews at that time were not able to recognize God’s tremendous presence in the ordinary life of Jesus. Because Jesus was too ordinary for them, and a mere son of a carpenter from Nazareth, the people refused to believe in Jesus and refused to recognize God in the person of Jesus.

    The Lord reveals himself to us in ordinary and many ways. This is what Jesus is inviting us today, that we may recognize daily God’s blessings and presence in us. But how?

    First, be appreciative and be always grateful even of small graces and blessings that you receive each day. Express in words and actions your gratitude. Be more generous to say sincerely “thank you” to people around you and to God. With this attitude we will always be reminded of the many blessings from God and avoid becoming forgetful.

    Second, be more discerning and listen better on how Jesus reveals himself in ordinary ways. This is also a call to be sensitive to God’s many revelations even in the most ordinary ways. Indeed, God reveals himself and his love for us every day and every moment of our life, in moments of defeat and moments victory, in moments of failures and moments of success, in moments of death and in moments of life. To discern and to listen, then, will make us less judgmental and to become more welcoming of God’s presence in our life.

    In these ways, we may always see and recognize God’s many ways of revealing His signs for us. Hinaut pa.

    Jom Baring, CSsR