What sign or signs do you focus on in spiritual life? Do they point you to Jesus? - Daily Reflections October 13,2014

A SIGN ABOVE ALL SIGNS

 

The Lord seemed disappointed with His audience, calling them “an evil generation,” always seeking for signs.

       I wonder where that would leave many of us who are so obssessed by all sorts of signs: zodiac signs, feng shui, tarot cards, fortune tellers, etc. I am reminded of the confusing traffic signs that abound in the Philippines. Sometimes, they are professionally done, etched in sheet metal, properly mounted, brightly painted, but oftentimes wrongly pointed. As is true all over the archipelago, some bum or drunkard vandalizes them, and the purpose for which they were made is not served at all.

       But what may be worse than wrongly pointed or missing signs is the surfeit of signs everywhere. More than irritated, one is actually confused. When out looking for a street name or a building, one’s visual acuity is impaired by so many conflicting signs, drowned out by even bigger tarpaulins that have become a sub-culture in the country.

       One literally has to focus only on some or on one. One has to be discriminating and tune out all the others that crowd his field of vision. The Lord did this for His audience. He promised to give them only one sign: that of Jonah. Jonah was entombed in the belly of the whale and came out of it unscathed. It pointed to no less than Jesus Himself, who also would be entombed in the belly of the earth and, after three days, would rise again to a new life.

         At times, I am not just confused but saddened by so many conflicting signs I see: massive poverty alongside even more massive ignorance and lack of education; a culture of mass manipulation by a subservient mainstream media; a culture of impunity in a dysfunctional political system heavily populated by just a few families; a Church that is also for the most part made up of highly sacramentalized but poorly evangelized constituents, etc. I need to focus on only one. Jesus died and rose for you and me. I, too, will rise again! This is all that matters. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: What sign or signs do you focus on in spiritual life? Do they point you to Jesus?

 

Lord, thank You for being the Sign that humanity has long waited for. May we always rely on You and not on the conflicting and confusing signs around us.