October 21, 2022 – Luke 12:54-59
It is fascinating to observe how simple and real are the examples Jesus uses to illustrate his teaching.
Jesus uses the experience of the farmer who can read the sky to predict the weather. Indeed, with experience, one can be very accurate in predictions, at least in the short term, by observing the color and shape of the clouds, the direction and strength of the wind, and so on. The west wind came from the Mediterranean and brought rain. The south wind blew from the desert and brought heat.
Using these examples, Jesus rebukes the crowds saying, “You know how to evaluate the appearance of the earth is of the sky, how come you do not know how to evaluate this weather?”
There are signs, signs to read, to make choices, to get an idea, to understand where we are going. We have to observe and I would say not only the signs of the times, but also the signs of places, as it is clear that the Gospel points to the same things. We have to see emergencies and those emergencies read them to understand them, to be shrewd, not to be unprepared when they come. It is an operation of great intelligence this discernment to which Jesus calls.
“Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?” With this second rebuke Jesus puts each person before his own responsibility in his choices and judgments.
If, as a priest I have a duty to accompany people spiritually, I must always avoid the temptation to tell them what they should do.
For the ultimate responsibility for choice and judgment lies with each person.
St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that God is in all things, “by essence, presence and power,” and that God providentially cares for every aspect of His creation. Therefore, we should expect to see signs of His presence and activity in nature, history and human affairs. Thus, Jesus challenges his listeners to read the signs of the messianic time in his ministry of preaching and healing, and then to act accordingly.
“Gaudium et Spes” (4), actualizes the Gospel today: “There hangs over the Church the permanent duty to scrutinize thoroughly the signs of the times and to interpret them in the light of the Gospel (…) It is necessary, therefore, to know and understand the world in which we live and its hopes, its aspirations, its way of being, frequently
How, then, to understand the “signs of the times”? Pope Francis says that first it is necessary to “be silent and observe,” then “reflect within ourselves,” asking, for example, “why are there so many wars now?” Through “silence,” “reflection” and “prayer,” we will be able to grasp “what Jesus wants to tell us.”
Discerning the “signs of the times,” the Pope continued, “is not the exclusive work of a cultural elite.” It is no accident that Jesus never says, “look at how university students do it, look at how doctors do it, look at how intellectuals do it….” He points, rather, to farmers who, “in their simplicity” know “how to distinguish the wheat from the weeds.”
“Times change, and we Christians must change continually. We must change steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, steadfast in the truth of the Gospel, but our attitude
must continually move according to the signs of the times,” the Pope concluded.
Fr Joby Kavungal RCJ
San Lorenzo Parish, TREZZANO SUL NAVIGLIO – MILAN