16 February 2026 – Monday of the 6th week of Ordinary Time
Homily
After healing the deaf-mute in pagan territory, as recounted in last Friday's Gospel reading, and performing the second multiplication of the loaves, as recounted in Saturday's Gospel, Jesus returned to Israel. Immediately, he was confronted again by the Pharisees, who were always looking to catch Him out. This time, they asked Him for a sign from heaven.
When we read these words, we immediately think of a miracle. The Pharisees would ask for a miracle. In reality, our concept of ‘miracle’ does not exist in the Bible. We claim to know what we call the ‘laws of nature’ and we consider anything that happens that does not respect these laws of nature to be a ‘miracle’. For the people of the Bible, there are no laws of nature. Everything is directly subject to God's will. And when something extraordinary happens, such as a healing, it is simply a wonderful manifestation of God's goodness and love. We then speak of ‘wonders’, of God's marvellous works towards mankind.
The Bible speaks of ‘signs’, but these are quite different from miracles as we understand them. Thus, the entire Gospel of St John is built around a series of signs accompanied by words. These signs are revelations, apocalypses, which manifest various aspects of God's greatness and goodness.
What the Pharisees are asking for is something else entirely. It is something extraordinary that would prove that Jesus is a true prophet. But Jesus has nothing to prove. He never performs a healing to prove anything. When He does perform one, it is not to prove who He is; it is always out of kindness, mercy, and love for the sick person. And when He performs what St John calls His ‘first sign’, that is, when He turns water into wine at Cana, it is not to show His power, but simply to allow the guests to continue the feast and be joyful.
Our daily lives are full of signs of God's love for us. Let us get into the habit of seeing these signs, of identifying them for what they are. Let us not try, like the Pharisees, to see in what happens ‘proof’ that God exists or numerical indications of what God wants us to do. Let us not be of the generation of which Jesus says, “No sign will be given to this generation”. And above all, let us not allow it to be said of us, as of the Pharisees: “... He left them and went to the other side.”
In instituting the Eucharist, Jesus made bread and wine and the meal taken in memory of Him a sign of His love for us and of the communion that must unite us to one another and to all our brothers and sisters. Let us marvel at this ‘sign’ and seek no other signs.
Armand Veilleux