Today's Gospel

Present Moment Awareness

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant where each day we explore the gospel together, looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea that the Holy Spirit uses to grab our attention. Today's gospel comes from Luke 11:29-32. When the crowds were increasing, and he began to say, "This generation is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will arise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here."

What jumps out in today's gospel for you? I think for me, it's this concept of awareness. Are we aware of what is actually happening? And Jesus is saying to the people, the queen came to see Solomon, something greater than Solomon here. The people repented when Jonah preached to them something greater than Jonah is here. Are we aware of the import of experiences that we have in this world while they're actually happening? Very often in hindsight, we look back and we're aware, "Oh, that was an important moment." But God wants us to have present moment awareness. He wants us to be aware of things while they're actually happening. He wants us to be aware of people while we're actually with them. And of course, the awareness here in the gospel is awareness of Jesus' presence. And how aware are we of Jesus' presence when we receive the Eucharist? How aware of Jesus' presence in every tabernacle around the world? How aware of Jesus' presence are we when we go to mass? And something greater than Solomon, something greater than Jonah is right there happening right there before us. And obviously, we look back on our life and there have been times when we have been oblivious to what is happening before us and oblivious to Jesus' presence in our lives. And so I think today's gospel is an invitation to be aware, to increase our awareness of Jesus' presence in our lives, on what Jesus is trying to do in different situations, and of Jesus' presence in our world. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.

I hope you're enjoying the Daily Gospel Reflections. So one of the things I love doing, spending this time with you each day. Recently, I released a book called 33 Days to Divine Mercy. If you haven't had a chance to check that out yet, I encourage you to do that today.