“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Monday, 18th July 2016,
Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Mic 6: 1-4, 6-8;
Ps 49: 5-6, 8-9, 16-17, 21, 23;
Mt 12: 38-42
DEMANDS FOR SIGNS!
There are some people around us who are never happy no matter what you do for them, they are always unhappy and keep complaining. Despite all that the good Lord has done for them, the people have been unfaithful, nothing can satisfy them. These people deserve to be condemned. But God is an unusual judge; he is not intending to condemn anyone. He passes no sentence because God prefers repentance to punishment.
The Jews always looked for signs to prove the authenticity of a prophet. Jesus Christ is among the people as the sign of the Father, yet, the people do not recognize him. They are still looking for some other sign in order to acknowledge him as the Son of God. Even if Jesus had performed another sign, it wouldn’t even have made any difference because in Matthew 12:22, when he healed the man who was blind and mute, they accused him of performing the sign with the power of the prince of demons.
The contrast with the people of Nineveh is that at least they believed in the sign given by Jonah and repented. Sometimes we are like these people who failed to recognize the presence of Jesus. Many a Catholic rush to all these evangelists who claim to bring people back to life; many Catholics too run from one apparition site to the other in search of miracles; yet, Jesus Christ is present with us every day in the Eucharist, healing us of our diseases. Jesus Christ is present in the neighbor that we encounter. I consider the tabernacle to be the greatest apparition because Jesus Christ is present there, inviting us to come and visit with him. The greatest sign is, God becoming man and the word becoming flesh/food for the life of the world.
Prayer: Lord I believe that You are truly present with us till the end of the world. Amen.
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