Pope's Morning Homily: We Need to Know What's Happening and to Think About It

Christians are called to read the signs of the times, Pope Francis says, drawing a lesson from today’s Gospel reading. And to do this, we must have silence, observe, and reflect.

The Pope offered this reflection today during his morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, reported Vatican Radio.

«We have this freedom to judge whatever is happening around us.  But in order to judge, we must have a good knowledge of what is happening around us. And how can we do this? How can we do this, which the Church calls ‘recognizing the signs of the times?’ Times are changing.  And it’s precisely Christian wisdom that recognizes these changes, recognizes the changing times and recognizes the signs of the times. What one thing and another thing means. And do this freely, without fear.”

Pope Francis admitted that it’s easier to seek comfort in doing nothing.

“We stick with conformity, we reassure ourselves with (words like) ‘they told us, I heard, people said they read….’ In this way we are reassured.  But what is the truth?  What is the message that the Lord wants to give me with this sign of the times? First of all, in order to understand the signs of the times we need silence: to be silent and observe. And afterwards we need to reflect within ourselves. One example: why are there so many wars nowadays?  Why did something happen? And pray… silence, reflection and prayer.  It’s only in this way that we can understand the signs of the times, what Jesus wants to tell us.”

Understanding the signs of the times, noted the Pope, is not only for an elite cultural group. He recalled how Jesus didn’t tell us to look at how the professors, the doctors and the intellectuals do things but instead urged us to look at the farm labourer who knows how to “separate the wheat from the chaff.”

“Times are changing and we Christians must change continually. We must change whilst remaining fixed to our faith in Jesus Christ, fixed to the truth of the Gospel but we must adapt our attitude continuously according to the signs of the times. We are free. We are free thanks to the gift of freedom given to us by Jesus Christ. But our job is to look at what is happening within us, discern our feelings, our thoughts and what is happening around us and discern the signs of the times – through silence, reflection and prayer.”

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Daily readings provided by the US bishops’ conference:

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 477