Homily for Friday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

Some people tested Jesus by asking for a sign from heaven, a miracle, to prove His place in His Father's plans. They were oblivious to God's presence and action in Jesus' ministry. Jesus explained that if it was by the finger of God that he drove demons out of people, then God's power was at certainly at work in His ministry, if only people could see it. There was no need for Jesus to perform a miracle to prove it.

Some people, even today, seem captivated by the phenomenal, the sensational, and the miraculous. It would be tragic if we failed to notice how the Lord is present among us through the charity, good works, and prayers of others. It is easy to miss these more profound realities amid the everyday and the ordinary.

On a war memorial in Kilkenny, Ireland, are engraved the words of Irish Republican, poet, and journalist Joseph Mary Plunkett: "I see His blood upon the rose and in the stars the glory of His eyes." He recognized the presence of Jesus in nature. The finest of human nature and human relationships can convey to us even more profoundly the presence and action of God in our lives.