Dai­ly Reflec­tion
July 21, 2025

In the pas­sage from Exo­dus, the Israelites lament hav­ing left Egypt. Despite wit­ness­ing signs of God’s pres­ence, their faith fal­ters. In the very next chap­ter, how­ev­er, we see a pow­er­ful rever­sal: they are res­cued and respond with grat­i­tude. The respon­so­r­i­al vers­es cap­ture their thank­ful­ness even though we know that their impa­tience and doubt will soon return.

That read­ing left me reflect­ing on our own times. The Israelites were giv­en a clear sign. The waters part. And yet, even then, their trust even­tu­al­ly wavered. I often find myself in a sim­i­lar place. I look around at the state of the world and wish for a sign, some­thing unmis­tak­able. I feel pow­er­less, unsure of how to respond. While prepar­ing this reflec­tion, I was remind­ed of some­thing I heard at a recent con­fer­ence: a speak­er shared these words from the late Aux­il­iary Bish­op of Mil­wau­kee, Richard Sklba:

(We may find our­selves) caught in a moment in his­to­ry not of our choos­ing, and with a task not always to our lik­ing, but we must find God in those very cir­cum­stances, or we won’t find God at all… for it is the only moment we have.

These words stayed with me. They echo what I hear in today’s Gospel: Jesus address­es the demands for a sign. His response is point­ed, and it chal­lenges my own long­ings. I real­ize that my desire for imme­di­ate reas­sur­ance may be shaped by a cul­ture that prizes instant answers and vis­i­ble results. I’ve been blessed in many ways, and per­haps that has made it hard­er to rec­og­nize God when things are unclear or dif­fi­cult. Like the Israelites, I become frus­trat­ed and impa­tient, espe­cial­ly when my hopes for what I per­ceive as good and just out­comes go unmet.

Jesus’ ref­er­ence to Jon­ah reminds me that Sal­va­tion His­to­ry includes suf­fer­ing, wait­ing, and uncer­tain­ty. Even Jesus him­self dies. This chal­lenges me to con­sid­er how grace is not always found in dra­mat­ic signs or imme­di­ate res­o­lu­tion, but in the qui­et fideli­ty to the moment I’ve been given.

My prayer today is that I may shift my focus from search­ing for signs to seek­ing God in the present moment, even when it’s chal­leng­ing, even when it feels like not enough.

Dear Lord,
How often do I judge oth­ers with­out rec­og­niz­ing the hard­en­ing of my own heart?
Help me to become more attuned to my role in Your plan.
Let me see where my small efforts can con­tribute to some­thing greater.
Grant me the patience to keep going, even when I don’t see the out­come.
Bring me con­so­la­tion in know­ing that You are draw­ing us all toward some­thing more.