Monday, August 1 ( July 19), 2022

1Cor. 9:13-18; Mt. 16:1-6

The Pharisees and Sadducees asked the Lord for a sign [Mt. 16:1], unable to see the sign right in front of their eyes.  That sign was the Lord Himself; His teaching and His miracles clearly showed who He was, and no other sign was needed.  “The works that I do…, they bear witness of Me”, ─ said He to the Jews [Jn. 10:25] and reproached them sternly: “Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” [Mt. 16:3].

Why did it happen to them?  Because their whole life was limited to the externals: they would never look inside, into their souls.  To take notice of what the Lord is doing in this world, much less to understand the meaning of His actions, without concentration on one’s own soul, without keen attention to oneself, is absolutely impossible.

The same has been true up until this day.  Christianity is standing before everyone’s eyes as the most genuine heavenly sign, while people have problems seeing it, falter and turn away from God.  Their eyes are losing sight; they no longer can discern its divine features, and they are willing to ask for special signs from heavens, just like the Jews did.   But no special sign is given to them, and none will emerge in the future, ─ because they ask for it out of idle curiosity, without resolve or desire to follow the way of Christ.

What you should do is just set out on this journey ─ and from the first step you will see that it is truly divine, that it leads to God and brings God closer to you.  But the Lord said to the Jews: “There shall no sign be given… but the sign of the prophet Jonas” [Mt. 16:4], and likewise He is answering the unbelievers of today: “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn…” [Mt. 24:30].