The signs of the 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?
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.