Only For The Bold
Julián Carrón - The Israelites had seen how the Lord had begun to free them from slavery in Egypt, but as soon as they faced danger and saw the Egyptians pursuing them, they were immediately assailed by doubt. They asked Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have brought us out to die in the desert? What have you done, bringing us out of Egypt?”
When life does not coincide with our desires, we are immediately afraid of risk and of what we truly desire, which is freedom. “Leave us alone and we will serve the Egyptians.” We bow down before any situation because, deep down, we do not trust the One who began the good work in us. In our daily lives—whether in the one we are spending here together or in your own, with your illnesses, respective burdens, and unique challenges to face—we are all in the same boat. Many times, we are assailed by doubt and would prefer to be subjugated rather than have the freedom that is promised to us.
Faced with this, Moses has nothing else to say: “Do not be afraid! [...] You will see the salvation of the Lord.” He says the same to each of us, whatever point we are at on our journey, whatever challenges we are facing, whatever doubts assail us, and whatever temptation we have to submit to them: “You will see [if you are not afraid] the salvation of the Lord.” And so God commands Moses to raise his staff so that everyone—the people of Israel and even the Egyptians—may know that “I am the Lord, when I show my glory against Pharaoh,” when His truth shines before all! But this only happens to the bold—to those who wait to see how the Mystery, how Christ, will fulfill that promise.
Hadn’t the people of Israel already received enough signs? Wasn’t everything they had seen enough? Yet they want a sign that will spare them freedom, that will not demand of them, as it does of each of us, trust in all the signs they had received.
Jesus replied to the scribes and Pharisees who questioned him: “No sign will be given to you except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”—and then He will rise again. Those who wait will see the fulfillment of the promise: “Behold, here is one who is greater than Jonah! [...] Here is one greater than Solomon.”
Only for the bold! Only for those who, having seen what they have seen in their own lives, can wait. Let us be together to see Him. The life we live—each in the situation in which we find ourselves—is given to us only for this, essentially for this: to be able to see Him win, whatever the circumstances, and in a way that we often cannot even imagine. But those who have this trust will be able to see Him; they will be able to live their lives giving thanks for having seen His glory and for having discovered their own freedom more and more.
For this reason, we have only one task: to be attentive to the signs through which the Lord shows His victory, shows that “I am the Lord,” and shows that “here is one greater than Solomon!”
Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time – Year A Mass of the Quadratini Association Unrevised Notes from the Homily of Julián Carrón July 21, 2025 (First reading: Exodus 14:5–18; Psalm: Exodus 15:1–6; Gospel: Matthew 12:38–42)
