Luke 11: 29-32: Daily Gospel XXII

"This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it..."

It's so interesting to me that that was considered an evil generation.  It really makes me wonder how He would have called out this generation.

This generation doesn't seek a sign.  It doesn't even think it needs a sign.  It wants nothing to do with the works of God.

Makes the evil generation seeking a sign sound pretty good.

My first novena of Lent has been the St. Therese novena.  It has had it's spiritual fruits, such as helping me focus on being simpler and not grasping for pleasures in the forms of taking too long to read the newspaper and eat breakfast in the mornings, and thereby not running out the house to get to work on time, and not wasting as much time in general.  But it's also been hard, because I know a traditional part of the novena is to pray for an answer to prayer in the form of a rose.  This part is always a struggle with me.  Is it testing God, or being silly and superstitious to look for such a sign?  Or by not asking for a sign in the midst of prayer, am I not trusting in God's ability to work wonders, or worse, am I not open to the answer He might give me?  If it's the answer I don't want, would I still follow through with my own will?

I've prayed the novena twice before, both times in relation to vocation discernment and both times with freaky. crazy. insane. rose stories.  Like, really, my vocation path today is living proof of the power of the novena.  

The thing with the times in the past is that both times, the roses were surprises.  Was I hoping for them? Sure.  Was I really expecting them?  Not really.  Both times it was God "wooing" me...catching me by surprise with His frankness and truthfulness in answering my prayers.  I think this novena is really good, above all, at testing the heart of a person.  What is really your intention, and if the answer is something against your will, will you really follow where God may lead?

Let us hope for signs, but let us be taken aback by them also.  Let us pray for miracles, but let us abide by God's will and revel in the ordinary also.