John 7: 1-2, 10, 25-30
After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near.
But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but [as it were] in secret.
So some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Messiah? But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Missing God
In today’s Gospel, there seems to be some confusion whether people are recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. That is not too far off from my own struggles to recognize Jesus in everyday life. A hallmark of Ignatian Spirituality is finding God in all things, but how often do I fail to notice Jesus acting in my own life. Jesus may be front and center in the extraordinary and grace-filled moments of my day, but how often do I miss him in those ordinary, maybe even mundane, moments of my life.
Ignatius gave us a tool to help us locate God in the story of our life by reviewing the past 24 hours of our day. The Examen, another hallmark of Ignatian spirituality, helps us review our day. Here we ask God to gently point out where he was present. We come to find God in a kind gesture, a moment of gratitude, a strong emotion or a coincidence that had a whole lot of meaning. Where did you locate God in the past 24 hours?
—Tom Drexler is a graduate of Marquette University High School and Creighton University. At present he works in the advancement office of the Midwest Jesuits.
Prayer
Saint Ignatius invites us to review our day in God's presence.
1. Become aware of God’s presence.
2. Review the day with gratitude.
3. Pay attention to your emotions.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
5. Look toward tomorrow.
—Daily Examen