The Gospel for Wednesday of the first week in Lent is from Luke 11:29 to the 32nd verse. 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. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment, the Queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. There is something greater than Solomon here.

At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will rise with this generation and condemn it because at the preaching of Jonah, they repented. There’s still something greater than Jonah here. This reading is a common complaint flowing from the heart of Jesus when he would see so often the people that were closest to the temple and closest to the Law were distant from him, and I mean him as God. So you see the Queen of the south, who was the Queen of Sheba, and also the Ninevites, they were outsiders. They didn’t have any connection with the temple or with God, yet they were curious and they were interested in him, in what he was saying to them. So the task is very simple.

Don’t lose your curiosity for God. Don’t fall into a trap of just routine. I always go to mass, I go to the sacraments, I say my prayers. Those are all important things. But nothing is more important than being open to the beauty of a conversation that is your right to have with a God who is slowly revealing himself to you. The Closing prayer Father, awaken us to your presence.

Let us listen with intense curiosity and wonder as you speak to us. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.