Friday - 29th Week of OT 2017 - Signs of the Times

One of the very strong features of our Catholic faith is that we take signs and symbols seriously. Liturgically: art, music, gesture, beauty lift our minds to the worship of God, and help to express religious truths which cannot be expressed in words. In his 1999 “Letter to artists” Pope St. John Paul wrote, “In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God”

This is really the Sacramental Principle at work, so permeating Catholic Christianity: the visible sacrament communicates the invisible, the physical can communicate something of the spiritual.
In the Gospel today, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem when he must have come across a crowd of unbelievers, for he rebukes their unbelief. He points out how they so easily and forecast the weather by reading the signs, but they were missing something more important than weather, which was happening in their midst. The signs of the time were all around them: loaves being multiplied, the lame walking, hardened sinners repenting, and the good news spreading. But with all these signs many refused to believe.

Similarly today, even amidst all the tragedy, natural disaster, war, and sickness in the world, we see miracles, healings, restored relationships, Christian joy, fellowship, all which come through Christ. Catholics pouring out their lives in teaching the young, feeding the hungry in soup kitchens, clothing the naked, so much evidence if we take time to look and listen for the work of God.  The darker the world becomes, the more reasons for unbelief, the brighter we need to shine, with reasons for belief.

The more things change, the more things stay the same, for Christians, meaning, as the world changes, the Christian message, and the vocation of the Church remains the same. We are called to be proof of God’s love to the world. And that is done in very physical ways: gathering for prayer, gathering for works of charity, gathering for teaching, and manifesting the spiritual gifts God has given us for the upbuilding of the Church.

To go back to the idea of art, there is nothing more beautiful, no masterwork of art greater than a soul which has surrendered herself to God. We are called to be the works of art, through which the invisible hand of God, the artist, is made visible, in which His beauty, His truth, and His goodness are made manifest, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That our Church leaders may be instilled with genuine Faith, Hope, and Charity and help all people of the world to grow in those virtues.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people may take seriously the missionary call of Christ, that they will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For all whose lives are marked by suffering, may they come to know the healing and peace of Christ.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.