Daily Reading
First Reading
Romans 7:18-25a
For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
Psalm
Psalm 119:66, 68, 76, 77, 93, 94
Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.
You are good and do good;
teach me your statutes.
Let your steadfast love become my comfort
according to your promise to your servant.
Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
for your law is my delight.
I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.
I am yours; save me,
for I have sought your precepts.
Gospel Reading
Luke 12:54-59
He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
“And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? Thus, when you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case, or you may be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”
Reflection
Friends, the famous call of the Vatican II fathers to “read the signs of the times” is grounded in Jesus’s exhortation in the Gospel for today. Followers of Jesus are meant to look at the world with clear eyes, to see what is happening, to be attentive. But this attention is of a particular type. It is not the attention of the scientist or the philosopher or the politician—though it can include those. It is an attention to the things of God.
I have often argued that many of us today are still enthralled to a deist view of God, whereby God is a distant and aloof first cause of the universe, uninvolved with the world he has made. But Thomas Aquinas taught 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, in history, and in human affairs.
And once we see, we are meant to speak! In a way, followers of Jesus are not looking at the signs of the times for their own benefit but rather that they might share their prophetic perspective with everyone else. So look around, look with attention, look with the eyes of faith!