Homily for October 11, 2019

As we hear in today’s Gospel passage, some people, in an effort to test Him, asked Jesus for a sign, some miracle from heaven. They did so because they failed to recognize the presence of God in the person of Jesus. So, they believed that if He performed some sign, on demand, that it would prove that God was with Him.

In reality, God was powerfully at work in Jesus’ ministry, if only people had the eyes of faith to see it. There really was no need for miracles in order for the people to accept His message. As Jesus would later say to Thomas after the Resurrection, “Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed.” [John 20:29]

Sometimes even people of faith can be drawn to “signs and wonders”, obsessed with shrines and miracles. We can fail to see that the Lord is present among us in and through the goodness, kindness, mercy, love, and hospitality of others; in all kinds of ordinary expressions of love; even in people’s quiet prayerfulness.

We can miss the divine presence in the everyday and the familiar. In a wonderful poem, the great Irish patriot and poet Joseph Mary Plunkett wrote, “I see His blood upon the rose and in the stars the glory of His eyes.” Nature spoke to him of Christ. The best of human nature and our relationships with one another can also speak to us of God. +