At the Mass celebrated on Friday, October 23, in St. Martha’s House, the Pope said we need to read the signs of the times and be discerning, while remaining faithful to the Gospel, without succumbing to conformism.
At this morning’s Mass in St. Martha’s House, the Pope urged faithful to read the signs of the times and change accordingly, while remaining faithful to the Gospel, always. During the mass, Francis reflected on the idea that the church must act, bearing today’s reality in mind but without giving in to conformism and always allowing itself to be inspired by prayer, Vatican Radio reports.
Taking his cue from the reading of St Paul’s letter to the Romans, Pope Francis’s homily reflected on the discernment that the Church needs to employ whilst looking at the signs of the times and doing what Christ wants. He noted how St Paul’s preaching stressed the freedom which has saved us from sin whilst Christ himself spoke of reading the signs of the times. Those who are able to understand these but do not try in the same way to understand the time of the Son of God are hypocrites, Francis said.
What is certain, is that the times are changing and it is the Christians’ duty to act as Jesus wanted: “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.”
God set us free and in order to have this freedom, we must open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit and clearly understand what is happening within and around us. How? Through “discernment”. “We have this freedom to judge whatever is happening around us. But in order to judge, we must have a good knowledge of that 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 conceded that is this is not an easy thing to do on account of the external conditioning that pressures Christians as well, encouraging many of them to seek comfort in doing nothing. “This is something that we usually don’t do: 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.”
Francis also warned: “Understanding the signs of the times should not be confined to an élite cultural group. 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 continuously. 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.”
