Word to the Wise
Friday, October 24, 2014 - Friday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Eph 4:1-6 and Luke 12:54-59]Jesus said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain - and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot - and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?" [Luke]
When I was a Dominican student brother (seminarian) back in the mid 1960's, the popular folk singer, Bob Dylan, recorded a song entitled, "The times they are a-changin!" That song became almost a mantra as we struggled to understand what was going on in the church as a result of the Second Vatican Council. Some of the changes occurring were very painful either because of one's love for the way it had "always" been done or because others were leaving religious life due to the slow pace of change! There is an old Chinese curse: May you be born in interesting times! It was difficult to see how it was all the work of the Holy Spirit!
Jesus challenges the "crowds" to see what is going on in front of them. He is inaugurating a whole new age in humanity. If they can tell the weather, why can't they see what he is doing? Luke wrote that not just as a report but as a challenge to the community for which he was writing, and to us as well who would follow.
The ancient Greeks had two words for time. One of them (chronos) meant the time of day - hours, minutes, etc. The other referred to significant time (kairos). That meaning would be the one that Bob Dylan's song speaks to. The Extraordinary Synod on the family has just ended with considerable controversy invited intentionally by Pope Francis, who urged everyone not to tell him what they thought he wanted to hear, but to say what THEY thought. Since this synod is preparatory to another one next year on the same subject, I think we can expect another "significant time." Perhaps Pope Francis, like Pope St. John XXIII will come to personify "the signs of the times." There is much ahead of us to challenge us! AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
113 ms
4
