The Mass reading the other day was from Luke 11:29-32.
This was October 13. And it’s worth pondering.
“While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.'”
Does that mean that all signs are wrong, even evil?
Hardly. The issue seems one related to those who don’t believe, in God, in the spiritual, unless they are given a sign. In fact, the day of the reading was October 13, anniversary of the famous miracle of the moving sun, falling at Fátima, Portugal, where, during apparitions of the Blessed Mother, three secrets were given—one of which prophesied another sign, a “great” one, that would announce the Second World War.
That occurred with a historic, extraordinary display of the northern lights in January of 1938, just before Hitler marched into Austria.
Even just in history, there are other examples.
For instance: concerned about direction and anxious to spot land, Christopher Columbus and his crew at one point spotted a strange light that to this day has not been definitively explained. This was on October 11, 1492, and was described, in his own journal, as “a small wax candle that rose and lifted up, which to few seemed to be an indication of land.” Secular academics have come up with various potential explanations: that it was torches carried by natives or the bioluminescence of protozoa along shoreline rock (this latter explanation discarded due to Columbus’s depiction of it as from a point source, and also the timing: such protozoa only radiate lights after a full moon; this was near the first quarter). Whatever it was, the worried crew soon caught sight of land.
Clearly, Heaven is into signs. There are sun miracles, healings, rosaries that turn gold, and other signs of the supernatural at places like Medjugorje and Lourdes, and in our own lives, the appearance of a butterfly at a key moment may indicate the approbation of Heaven or a cardinal may be related to someone recently deceased. It may be an unexpected call. It may be the way we meet a future friend. A person may simply say something that, against all odds, pertains to a problem or question we have.
But as a priest pointed out the other day, what we should focus on is being signs ourselves: showing others the existence of God—being a sign of His existence—by the way we conduct our lives.
It can be simply smiling at someone.
Saying hello to a stranger.
Offering money to the homeless.
Holding the door for all of those behind you.
Visiting a person in a nursing home.
Volunteering at a food bank.
Giving strangers prayer cards.
Forgiving someone.
Being patient with customer-service folks.
The “sign of the Cross” is patience and long-suffering.
The list is potentially endless and comes down to demonstrating love, concern, and consideration to others.
Can a sign, a miracle, be the way the sun or moon or a star shines?
Of course it can.
But:
Just as Moses’ face shone after encountering God on Mount Sinai, so too can our daily prayer, silence, and surrender make us reflect something not of ourselves. A person steeped in prayer doesn’t need to quote Scripture constantly; their presence, peace, and demeanor speak volumes. Being a sign of God begins with being in God’s Presence, and that comes through prayer from the depths of our hearts.
[resources: A Life of Blessings]