THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

October 22, Friday

TWENTY-NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

      St Paul describes the experience of converts. They realize that before their conversion, notwithstanding their good will, they were incapable of following their conscience or the Law of Moses. But now that they know Christ they can win their struggles against the evil within them. We experience a similar struggle going on in us. We are torn beings, with the enemy within us, capable of the best and the worst. But on account of Christ, even the worst in us can also be turned into the best.

      In its introduction, the Vatican II Constitution on the Church in the Modern World says: “The Church must continually examine the signs of the times and interpret them in the light of the gospel. Thus she will be able to answer the questions that people are always asking about the meaning of this life and of the next and about the relation of this life and of the next and about the relation of one to the other, in a way adapted to each question.” By signs of the times we mean currents of thought and attitudes behind events, aspirations, and the like. Take the hippies, the Jesus movement, Pentecostalism, women’s lib, the hunger for liberation, the rebellion of many of the young against consumerism and hypocrisy. Can we discover points of contact and of openness to the values of the gospel?

 

First Reading: Romans 7:18-25a

For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.

 

Gospel: Luke 12:54-59

Then he turned to the crowd: “When you see clouds coming in from the west, you say, ‘Storm’s coming’—and you’re right. And when the wind comes out of the south, you say, ‘This’ll be a hot one’—and you’re right. Frauds! You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don’t tell me you can’t tell a change in the season, the God-season we’re in right now.

“You don’t have to be a genius to understand these things. Just use your common sense, the kind you’d use if, while being taken to court, you decided to settle up with your accuser on the way, knowing that if the case went to the judge you’d probably go to jail and pay every last penny of the fine. That’s the kind of decision I’m asking you to make.”

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
when today’s world hungers
for justice, truth and spiritual values,
perhaps disguised and distorted
in a form hard to recognize,
open our eyes and give us
your Spirit of wisdom and discernment.
May we thus learn to understand this world,
to feel at home in it,
and to discover the stepping-stones
that could lead us all to you
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Learn to discern
Today the Church celebrates the optional memoria of St. Pope John Paul II.
To the students of Journalism, one of the first things taught is to develop a “Nose for news.” It is innate nature of humans to be inquisitive. But some are too nosey to know everything that happens in the neighbours’ house, but surprisingly, could be totally ignorant of what is happening inside their own houses.

The Gospel presents a similar situation. Jesus confronts the crowd and challenges them: “You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky to predict the weather; but then, why do you not pay attention to interpret the signs of the times?” The contemporaries of Jesus fail to interpret his words and miracles as the sign that the kingdom of God has arrived.

People would not accept the teachings of Jesus. They went into a denial, encouraged perhaps by the non-responsiveness of their own leaders. Ordinary people always looked up to their leaders for opinions and followed what the leaders suggested. To think independently was not common. People are more often swayed by what they want to believe than by how they read the evidence. Jesus was convinced that the Jewish leadership was dishonest – they knew the significance of the teachings of Jesus, but they behaved as if they didn’t know. That’s why Jesus calls them “hypocrites”.

The problem was similar at the time of Luke’s community. Luke calls on them to recognise the presence of the Kingdom. The acknowledgement and recognition of Christ is hard to happen. Think of the present times where places that had been cradles of Christian faith in the past have turned into places that do away with even the name of God. In spite of knowing God as the author of life and the universe, the devil teaches the world that denying God is something fashionable. There is a tendency to destruction, war, hatred and division in us. It is the tendency that the enemy and destroyer of humanity – the devil – sows in our hearts.

There is always the struggle between grace and sin, between the Lord who wants to save and pull us out of this temptation and the bad spirit that always throws us down. It’s important to know what’s going on inside of us. Gospel challenges us to evaluate the happenings around us and learn to discern what is good for us – good for our life in faith.

Pope Francis suggests a few tips for us to go into that interior of us. He says, “Before the end of the day take two to three minutes to ask myself: what are the important things that happened today inside of me? Both the bad and good things …Who helped you do these things? Find out what is going on inside of us.

 

Video available on Youtube : Learn to discern