Monday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary

Lectio
    Matthew 12:38–42

Meditatio

“… and there is something greater … here.”

    As we follow Jesus’ ministry in Matthew’s Gospel, it may seem strange to us that the scribes and Pharisees are asking for a sign. In chapter 12 alone, Jesus has healed the man with the withered hand and cured a demoniac. He has been working many miracles. So why are they asking again for a sign?

    Based on the Pharisees’ assertion in Matthew 12:24 that Jesus is casting out demons through allegiance with the prince of demons, it seems likely that the Pharisees are asking Jesus to offer proof, or a sign, that he is really from God. In substance, they are saying, “Where does your power really come from? And if from God, then prove it.” Imagine the consternation of Jesus, who so deeply longs to reach each person’s heart. Here he is, preaching a Gospel of love and repentance, healing the sick, and casting out demons. If the reality of what he is doing doesn’t offer his audience proof that the power of God is in their midst, then what will?

    Yet aren’t our own hearts at times just as impregnable to God’s presence around us as those of the Pharisees? I know I can be blind to a God who defies my expectations, revealing himself in hidden, sometimes paradoxical ways. Yet God did not cease to dwell with us when Jesus died on the cross. That was only the beginning. The resurrected Lord continues to dwell with us and within us today. Do we believe this?

    “There is something greater … here.” Right here, today, we have access to something greater than the preaching of the prophets or the wisdom of the legendary King Solomon. There is something greater here, and that something is a Someone—it is the Christ, our Lord and our God!

Oratio

    Jesus, help me to grow ever more aware of your presence within and around me. Help me to see the ways that the power of God continues to work today, weaving a thread of the divine through every situation and person I encounter. You are rarely what I expect, yet you are more than I can imagine. Allow me to remain open to the mystery of who you are, and to the manifold and mysterious ways you choose to reveal yourself—especially those ways that may defy my expectations and hopes.

Contemplatio

    “My Lord and my God!”

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 1–17: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)