Something Greater Is Here
Morning has a way of making ordinary things look miraculous for a few minutes.
A familiar tree catches the first light. A window glows. Steam rises from a cup of coffee. The same road we have driven a hundred times disappears into mist and suddenly looks as though nobody has ever travelled it before.
Then the day gets underway, and the miracle becomes ordinary again.
In today’s Gospel, people ask Jesus for a sign. It is a strange request, because the Sign is standing directly in front of them.
Perhaps that is worth carrying into prayer this morning.
What if the great difficulty is not that God gives us too few signs, but that we have learned not to see them?
OPENING VERSE
Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
INVITATORY
Antiphon: Come, let us adore the Lord, for he made us.
Psalm 94 (95)
Come let us praise the Lord with joy:
let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;
and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great king above all gods.
For in his hand are all the ends of the earth:
and the heights of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his, and he made it:
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come let us adore and fall down:
and weep before the Lord that made us.
For he is the Lord our God:
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Today if you shall hear his voice,
harden not your hearts:
As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness:
where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I offended with that generation,
and I said: These always err in heart.
And these men have not known my ways:
so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Come, let us adore the Lord, for he made us.
PSALMODY
Psalm 89 (90)
Antiphon: In the morning, O Lord, fill us with thy mercy.
Lord, thou hast been our refuge
from generation to generation.
Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed;
from eternity and to eternity thou art God.
Turn not man away to be brought low:
and thou hast said: Be converted, O ye sons of men.
For a thousand years in thy sight
are as yesterday, which is past.
And as a watch in the night,
things that are counted nothing shall their years be.
In the morning man shall grow up like grass;
in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither.
For in thy wrath we have fainted away:
and are troubled in thy indignation.
Thou hast set our iniquities before thy eyes:
our life in the light of thy countenance.
For all our days are spent;
and in thy wrath we have fainted away.
Our years shall be considered as a spider:
the days of our years in them are threescore and ten years.
But if in the strong they be fourscore years:
and what is more of them is labour and sorrow.
For mildness is come upon us:
and we shall be corrected.
Who knoweth the power of thy anger,
and for thy fear can number thy wrath?
So make thy right hand known:
and men learned in heart, in wisdom.
Return, O Lord, how long?
and be entreated in favour of thy servants.
We are filled in the morning with thy mercy:
and we have rejoiced, and are delighted all our days.
We have rejoiced for the days in which thou hast humbled us:
for the years in which we have seen evils.
Look upon thy servants and upon their works:
and direct their children.
And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us:
and direct thou the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do thou direct.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: In the morning, O Lord, fill us with thy mercy.
Canticle — Isaiah 42:10–16
Antiphon: Let the praise of the Lord resound from the ends of the earth.
Sing ye to the Lord a new song,
his praise is from the ends of the earth:
You that go down to the sea, and all that is therein:
you islands, and you that dwell in them.
Let the desert and the cities thereof be exalted:
Cedar shall dwell in houses:
Ye inhabitants of the rock, give praise,
they shall cry from the top of the mountains.
They shall give glory to the Lord,
and shall declare his praise in the islands.
The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man,
as a man of war shall he stir up zeal:
He shall shout and cry:
he shall prevail against his enemies.
I have always held my peace, I have kept silence, I have been patient:
I will speak now as a woman in labour.
I will destroy and swallow up at once.
I will lay waste the mountains and hills,
and will make all their grass to wither:
And I will turn rivers into islands,
and will dry up the standing pools.
And I will lead the blind into the way which they know not:
and in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk:
I will make darkness light before them,
and crooked things straight.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Let the praise of the Lord resound from the ends of the earth.
Psalm 134 (135):1–12
Antiphon: Praise the name of the Lord, you who stand in the house of the Lord.
Praise ye the name of the Lord:
O you his servants, praise the Lord:
You that stand in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God.
Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good:
sing ye to his name, for it is sweet.
For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself:
Israel for his own possession.
For I have known that the Lord is great,
and our God is above all gods.
Whatsoever the Lord pleased he hath done,
in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all the deeps.
He bringeth up clouds from the end of the earth:
he hath made lightnings for the rain.
He bringeth forth winds out of his stores:
he slew the firstborn of Egypt from man even unto beast.
He sent forth signs and wonders in the midst of thee, O Egypt:
upon Pharao, and upon all his servants.
He smote many nations,
and slew mighty kings:
Sehon king of the Amorrhites, and Og king of Basan,
and all the kingdoms of Chanaan.
And gave their land for an inheritance,
for an inheritance to his people Israel.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Praise the name of the Lord, you who stand in the house of the Lord.
SHORT READING
Judith 8:25–27
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God, who hath tried us as he did our fathers.
Let us remember what things he did with Abraham, and how he tried Isaac, and what happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, when he fed the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother.
For he hath not tried us with fire, as he did them, for the examination of their hearts, neither hath he taken revenge on us: but the Lord scourgeth them that come near unto him, to admonish them.
SHORT RESPONSORY
Rejoice in the Lord, ye just.
Praise becometh the upright.
Sing unto him a new song.
Praise becometh the upright.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
Rejoice in the Lord, ye just. Praise becometh the upright.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
Luke 11:29–32
And the multitudes running together, he began to say:
This generation is a wicked generation: it asketh a sign, and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninivites; so shall the Son of man also be to this generation.
The queen of the south shall rise in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold more than Solomon here.
The men of Ninive shall rise in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas; and behold more than Jonas here.
BENEDICTUS
Antiphon: Blessed be the Lord, for he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people.
Canticle of Zachary — Luke 1:68–79
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us,
in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets,
who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies,
and from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers,
and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father,
that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
we may serve him without fear,
In holiness and justice before him,
all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people,
unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God,
in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death:
to direct our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Blessed be the Lord, for he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people.
INTERCESSIONS
Christ is already among us, though our eyes are often slow to recognize him. Let us entrust this new day to him.
Lord, open our eyes to thy presence.
For thy holy Church: keep her faithful to Christ himself, that she may never mistake novelty, power, or spectacle for the Gospel.
Lord, open our eyes to thy presence.
For the Pope, bishops, priests, deacons, religious, missionaries, and all who teach the faith: give them wisdom to point beyond themselves to the One who is greater than Solomon and greater than Jonas.
Lord, open our eyes to thy presence.
For rulers and all entrusted with public authority: teach them to recognize the dignity of the people placed in their care, especially the poor, forgotten, unborn, elderly, displaced, and defenseless.
Lord, open our eyes to thy presence.
For our work today: bless the tools in our hands, the decisions before us, the people with whom we labour, and the duties that seem too ordinary to matter. Make our daily work an offering of fidelity and love.
Lord, open our eyes to thy presence.
For our homes and families: let us recognize the gifts we have grown accustomed to seeing, forgive quickly, speak kindly, and receive one another again with gratitude.
Lord, open our eyes to thy presence.
For those who suffer in body or mind, those awaiting news, those who are lonely, afraid, unemployed, burdened by debt, grieving, or uncertain of the road ahead: be near to them in ways they can recognize.
Lord, open our eyes to thy presence.
For those who have died: receive them into that country where faith gives way to sight and every hidden mercy is revealed.
Lord, open our eyes to thy presence.
And for ourselves: deliver us from demanding extraordinary proofs while overlooking thy ordinary gifts. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts ready to repent when thou callest.
Lord, open our eyes to thy presence.
OUR FATHER
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
O Lord our God, who hast given us this world to tend and this day in which to serve thee, grant that we may work faithfully for thy glory and for the good of our neighbour.
Keep us from seeking thee only in wonders and extraordinary signs. Give us instead the grace to recognize thy Son already present among us, thy providence in the duties before us, and thy mercy in gifts so familiar that we have ceased to wonder at them.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
BLESSING
May the Lord bless us, and keep us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
THE PARADOX OF THE DAY
We ask God for a sign because we have grown accustomed to the miracle already standing before us.
CHESTERTON FOR THE MORNING
“These tales say that apples were golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green.”
— G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, “The Ethics of Elfland”
A CHESTERTONIAN MEDITATION
There is probably an object within arm’s reach of you that would have astonished one of your ancestors.
Perhaps it is a telephone. Perhaps a coffee maker. Perhaps an electric lamp. Perhaps it is simply a pane of glass large enough to look through without distortion.
And yet you probably did not get out of bed this morning, encounter the light switch, and cry aloud with amazement.
This is understandable. A man who gasped every time the refrigerator started would have difficulty getting through breakfast.
Habit is useful.
But habit has a peculiar side effect: it can make the astonishing invisible.
Chesterton noticed this particularly in children. The adult requires dragons. The child can be astonished by a door.
That is why his remark about the golden apples of fairy tales is so penetrating. Fairy stories paint apples gold not because ordinary apples are insufficiently wonderful, but because we have forgotten how strange an apple really is.
Imagine encountering one for the first time.
A hard brown branch spends the winter apparently dead. Then it covers itself in flowers. The flowers disappear. Months later, round objects hang from the branches—green, red, yellow, sweet, crisp, full of seeds capable of beginning the whole ridiculous process again.
We call this normal.
That may be the strangest word in the English language.
It is useful shorthand for things that happen frequently. But frequency is not explanation.
The sun rose yesterday. It rose today. We confidently expect it tomorrow. None of this makes sunrise less extraordinary. It merely means that we have been given the extraordinary thing so often that we have begun treating it as furniture.
And into precisely this human condition walks today’s Gospel.
A crowd gathers around Jesus and asks for a sign.
One wants almost to interrupt them.
A sign?
What exactly would qualify?
The sick have been healed. Demons have been driven out. The poor have heard good news. Sinners have been forgiven. The Scriptures are being fulfilled before their eyes.
And standing before them is Jesus Christ.
Yet they want a sign.
The request sounds reasonable until we notice that they are asking the Sign for a sign.
Christ answers them with Jonas.
The people of Ninive heard a prophet and repented. The queen of the south travelled an immense distance to hear Solomon.
And Christ says:
“Behold more than Solomon here.”
And again:
“Behold more than Jonas here.”
There is the thunderclap hidden inside this short Gospel.
Here.
Not somewhere else.
Not eventually.
Not after one more extraordinary demonstration.
Here.
The people are looking toward the horizon for evidence of God while God stands within speaking distance.
It would be easy to laugh at them if we did not spend so much of our own lives doing precisely the same thing.
We imagine faith would be easier if God would only make himself unmistakable.
Give me the answer.
Heal this illness.
Fix this problem.
Open this door.
Close that one.
Tell me unmistakably what to do.
Show me a sign.
There is nothing wrong with asking God for help. Christ himself tells us to ask.
But there is a subtle difference between asking God for help and requiring God to prove that he is God according to conditions we have established.
The second attitude can become strangely blind.
For while we wait for the spectacular answer, the ordinary gifts continue arriving.
Morning arrives.
Someone loves us.
Bread exists.
Water comes from the tap.
A friend telephones.
A child laughs in another room.
There is work to be done.
There is someone who needs us.
There is a Mass being offered somewhere.
There is a tabernacle in which Christ waits without spectacle.
There is forgiveness available.
There is another day.
None of these things proves that life is painless. Some mornings arrive in hospital rooms. Some telephones bring terrible news. Some chairs at breakfast tables are empty because someone who once sat there has died.
Christian wonder is not pretending that grief is pleasant.
It is something considerably more defiant.
It is the conviction that sorrow has not abolished gift.
Indeed, Psalm 89 this morning is hardly sentimental about human life:
“The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years.”
They pass.
We labour.
We suffer.
We die.
And then comes the prayer:
“We are filled in the morning with thy mercy.”
That is a remarkable sentence.
Not after everything has been repaired.
Not when every question has been answered.
In the morning.
Now.
The mercy comes while the clock is running.
This may explain why gratitude is more than good manners. Gratitude is a way of seeing reality accurately.
The ungrateful man does not necessarily possess fewer things. He sees fewer things.
The grateful man may possess exactly the same kitchen table, exactly the same old car, exactly the same troublesome job and exactly the same rainy Monday morning.
But he has recovered the forgotten ability to see.
The apple has become green again.
And this is where Chesterton’s fairy tales unexpectedly meet the Gospel.
We keep wanting the apple to turn gold before we will call it miraculous.
God keeps handing us green apples.
We want handwriting in the sky.
He gives us Scripture.
We want certainty about the entire road.
He gives us enough light for the next step.
We want some overwhelming proof that he has not abandoned the world.
He gives us Christ.
And Christ says:
“Behold more than Solomon here.”
Perhaps the spiritual task this Monday is therefore wonderfully small.
Look again.
Look at the person across the breakfast table.
Look at the work waiting on the desk.
Look at the October light on a familiar road.
Look at the old church you have entered so many times that you hardly notice the door anymore.
Look at bread.
Look at water.
Look at your own hands.
Then remember that the astonishing thing about Christianity is not merely that God occasionally interrupts ordinary life.
It is that God entered ordinary life.
He had a mother.
He ate meals.
He walked roads.
He went to weddings.
He worked with his hands.
He slept in boats.
He wept beside a grave.
And finally, when humanity demanded its great sign, he gave one so strange that almost everyone missed it.
A cross.
Then an empty tomb.
The Christian answer to the demand for a sign is not that signs do not exist.
It is that we are surrounded by them.
The difficulty is learning to see them without requiring them first to turn gold.
So when the door opens this morning, do not wait for the dragon.
The door itself is remarkable.
The morning itself is remarkable.
The person beside you is remarkable.
And Christ is nearer than you think.
Something greater is here.
FOR THE DAY AHEAD
Lord Jesus Christ,
when I demand a sign, teach me first to look again.
Let me recognize thee in thy Word,
receive thee in thy Sacraments,
serve thee in my neighbour,
and discover thy gifts in the ordinary things I have ceased to notice.
Give me gratitude for what is already here,
courage for the work before me,
and wonder enough to see the world again.
Amen.
Chesterton Radio