The Only Sign

“While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah...’” Luke 11:29

We are always looking for signs, a red rose, a white rose, whatever. So many people followed Jesus around, jostled to listen to Him, because He was a miracle worker, He healed the sick, He raised the dead, He multiplied bread. If Jesus came today, crowds would follow Him as well. And He would say the same thing, “This generation is an evil generation,” because we would be looking for signs as well. Not much has changed. 

Michelle Karen D’Silva, a Catholic Speaker who has spoken at the Golden Jubilee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Rome, ministered to about 80 domestic helpers in Qatar a few years ago. I would not be surprised if many of them were Filipinas. These women had escaped from their sponsors after they had paid huge sums of money back home to get jobs. They were scammed and many of them had been abused, raped, some had babies, many had their passports withheld and could not go home back to their families. Michelle was overwhelmed at the hopelessness in their faces. She shared that something powerful happened the moment she said, “Sisters, shall we pray?” 

“Immediately,” she continued, “their right hand moved upwards to make the sign of the cross. Now, whether they understood that fully or not, I don’t know. Whether they’d ever been in the church before, I don’t know. But this, I know: their memory as little girls was marked by the cross. And that evening as we worshiped, hands were raised and tears began to flow. And suddenly they were not alone, because before them stood a crucifix, with a man hanging there between life and death who had first suffered for their sake.” 

The cross is the only sign we need.