"Red, right, returning." "Even red nuns have odd black cans." To the mariner entering harbor from sea these expressions keep ships, their occupants, and cargo "out of harm's way." Remember the expressions and follow the signs and you will navigate safely home. 

Navigation, the art or science of moving precisely from one location to a second, has been practiced by humans since the dawn of civilization. With increasing sophistication men and women travelers have used various navigational aids, all of which are signs, to arrive at their destinations successfully. When travel was by foot, cart, wagon, or beast of burden, points of land served as the principle signs. It might have been a mountain peak, a river, or some rock formation. Each navigational aid told the traveler direction and distance to the desired location. Today planes, trains, and automobiles use more sophisticated methods, but they all have one purpose -- to get the traveler safely to a specific destination. 

Although every form of travel necessitates navigational aids, signs provided to mariners seem to be the best illustration. For centuries sailors have been using visible signs to navigate safely to far and distant lands. At sea the position of the stars and planets on any particular night helps fix a vessel's position. Closer to shore there are many landmarks that can be used, such as a jetty, harbor, or inland mountain peak. 

Two of the more important navigational aids for mariners are lighthouses and buoys. Each lighthouse is different, not only in its construction, but, more importantly for the sailor, in the signal it provides. Lights of different durations, types, and colors tell the experienced sailor direction. Buoys are of various types. Some clang or produce fog signals, others possess a light, and others still mark the channel. "Red, right, returning" -- keep the red buoys on the right as you return from sea. "Even red nuns have odd black cans" -- even-numbered red nun-type buoys are matched with odd-numbered black can-type buoys. If travelers heed the signs provided, they will have a good chance to navigate successfully where they need or want to be. If signs are ignored, then most assuredly the result will be disaster. 

Signs are an important, even integral, aid to the journey of life, setting us on a path that if properly and closely followed will bring us to our desired destination, safely and efficiently. In a very real way signs are a source of liberation; they free us from following erroneous ways and assist us in making wise decisions in the route our life takes. Signs are posted by those who have blazed the path before us, found and negotiated many of the pitfalls and obstacles encountered, and discovered a fruitful and significant prize at the end of the journey. If we are wise we will heed the signs that others provide in order to avoid problems and more directly follow the path home and eventually to God. 

Signs of God's presence in the lives of his people have been present from the outset, but they were truly manifest in the famous exodus story. We recall that after 430 years, God raised up from among the Israelites the liberator Moses who, along with his brother Aaron, was given the task of speaking with Pharaoh and leading the Israelites to freedom in the Promised Land. From the outset of their long forty-year journey, God gave the people special signs, both to lead and provide for the community. God gave the community a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to give the people direction in their sojourn (Exodus 13:21-22). The Israelites were also given special signs of God's goodness and beneficent care along the way. When the people complained to Moses that they did not have sufficient food, God rained down manna from the heavens in the morning and provided quail in the evening (Exodus 16:1-36). Immediately thereafter God provided water from the rock when the people again complained that they were famished (Exodus 17:1-7). 

In today's First lesson we hear of the greatest sign of God's presence with the people. The Hebrew law, encapsulated in the Decalogue, or what Christians generally call the Ten Commandments, was the road map, the template for how each member of the Israelite community was to conduct his/her life. In a very real way the Decalogue became a source of identity for the community because its uniqueness, compared with the law forms of other contemporary peoples and civilizations, set the Hebrews apart in a few special and significant ways. The Ten Commandments were a distinctive contribution to legal codes of the pre-Christian era. Whereas the Codes of Lipit-Ishtar and Hammurabi were casuistic, that is systems which prescribed certain punishments for specific offenses, the Decalogue is apodictic, defining not punishments but proscribing certain specific actions. For example, rather than providing a punishment if one engages in thievery, the Decalogue emphatically states, "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15). Another extremely important and unique element in the Hebrew law was its divisions, clearly defining how one must conduct one's relationship with God and with neighbor. While the last seven commandments describe a person's relationship with others and constitute elements of the natural law, the first three were unique in defining one's relationship with God. This latter idea is most clearly evident in the first commandment, a law which set an absolute priority, namely the oneness of God. Acceptance of monotheism, a belief completely unique to human civilization to this date, became an absolute requirement for any who wished to enter into a relationship with Yahweh. The first commandment thus distinguished Israel from her Near East neighbors in a very significant and fundamental way. In general the Decalogue was a series of special signs, given to the Israelite community by God, which, if followed properly, would bring the people into a right relationship with their Creator and provide the fullness of life today and in the future. 

Signs, some of which we readily recognize and others that we might not even consider, govern our world today in many different ways. We have the obvious signs that we daily encounter -- the signs that guide the mariner to specific destinations, the road signs that provide information and govern our drive around town, the billboards that advertise the latest products, restaurants, and stores, the signs and symbols that we wear -- a cross, wedding or school ring, or special lapel pin that speaks of our membership in some club or organization. These are valuable signs that tell others something about us, but there are many more that we encounter each day and might not recognize. 

Like the Ten Commandments for the Israelites, contemporary law, both civil and ecclesiastical, is a special sign that provides direction and allows society to function efficiently and without chaos. The law orders our life. Imagine the roads upon which we travel almost every day without a detailed series of laws to govern our operation upon them. We see every day the destructive results for people and property when drivers violate or ignore the laws which govern our use of the highways. Imagine our nation without laws to regulate financial and banking institutions. Where would people place their hard-earned salaries? What would we do if we needed some extra money to meet the needs of our family? Imagine life today without laws related to commerce and industry. Could we trust that we are getting a safe product at a fair price? The law today might in some circumstances appear to be restrictive, we may perceive that we are being held back by its proscriptions, but the reality is that the law is absolutely necessary for society to function for all peoples. The law is a template, a road map, a series of signs for the daily life of secular human society as assuredly as the Ten Commandments were a special sign of God's love, concern, and favor for the Hebrew people. Without the law and the order it brings, both in civil and church circles, our world would be chaotic, there would be no clear direction, and people would be totally confused on the way they should proceed in order to live a decent and fulfilling life. 

Christians might not often think of it, but the church is an important and significant sign of the presence of God in our world. In 1974 Father (now Cardinal) Avery Dulles, S.J., wrote an influential book, Models of the Church, in which he described the church as a sacrament, a special sign in a troubled world of the presence of God. Christianity today is an absolutely necessary sign that there is a different approach possible for humankind than that which is generally promoted by secular society. The church is a sign of a different set of values and virtues. Society today says go for the gusto, achieve much, accumulate as much power, wealth, and prestige as possible. A television commercial of a few years back stated it this way, "Who says you can't have it all?" The church must be a counter sign to this prevailing attitude. The contemporary world badly needs the direction which the church as a sign can provide.  

Another popular church model uses the Pauline image (1 Corinthians 12:12-31) of "the people of God," necessitating our understanding of the significant responsibility we have of being signs to others of the presence, love, and power of God in our world. Whether we know, want, or accept it, people are not neutral on us. People are either drawn closer to us or pushed further from us by our words and actions. We are a true sign to others; we are in a special way evangelists. An evangelist is a person who not only preaches, but more basically serves as a positive sign that must give proper direction toward God and the Kingdom that we seek. When people think of evangelists, certain images come to mind. We might think of the "Elmer Gantry" image of a street corner preacher who speaks of hellfire and damnation, warning people that if they do not transform their lives soon all will be lost. We might also think of some of our brothers and sisters who choose to evangelize by going door-to-door in our neighborhoods and share with others their understanding of faith. While these stereotypical images are fine, we must not discount the everyday image of evangelization in our daily encounters with others, whether it be with our family, friends, business associates, or a stranger on the street. Each word, each act that issues from our person provides a special opportunity to be a sign to others. We, therefore, must ask ourselves an introspective and possibly difficult question -- what do people see and hear from us? Are we evangelizing, being a sign, of Christ's message of love and peace, or are we communicating to others some other missive? 

As members of the Church we have the obligation, endemic to our common vocation to holiness, to be signs and to witness to the power of Christ in our lives. This is an increasingly difficult task in our world, but it is not an obligation from which we must shy away. Rather, we must see this task as a rare opportunity to share our faith, to be special signs and thereby assist in building the Kingdom of God in our world today. 

The church this day is engaged is the special season and discipline of Lent, a time as Isaiah the prophet tells us to set things right (1:18), a time as Joel told us on Ash Wednesday to return to the Lord (2:13b), an opportunity as individuals and community to choose the correct path and begin to walk it toward God and eternal life. This season of grace, itself a sign in the liturgical year, is filled with special symbols that provide direction and purpose to our lives. Ashes speak of our mortality; palms allow us to walk the triumphant road with Jesus into Jerusalem. The disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving allow us to evaluate our lives and take stock of who we are and where we find ourselves along the road toward God. The Lenten signs, like the law, and the church, provide direction; they assist us to navigate safely toward the paschal mystery -- the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus -- and the one and only path that gets us to God. As assuredly as the buoys safely guide mariners and road signs lead us to our destinations, so Lent and its special emblems of God's grace will assist us in our journey in faith toward God. 

God sends many signs our way. Some we readily recognize and acknowledge, but for one reason or another we choose another route. Some signs we recognize and reject outwardly; some we don't even recognize. There are, however, many signs which we do recognize, follow, and in the process produce thirty, sixty, a hundred fold (Mark 4:20) for ourselves and others. The Christian path is not easy, but it will be worth the effort. Jesus himself has provided the path and the signs to follow it: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). May we have the courage to believe the same!