29th Week, Friday, Oct 22
Romans 7:18-25 / Luke 12:54-59
I desire to do good; But I lack the power to do it.
There's nothing in me that's perfect, and nothing in me that's complete. I'm just a great beginning, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet." This poem describes the human situation that Paul refers to in today's reading. It explains why we need Jesus to complete us.
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Do we let our weaknesses get us down, or do we accept them and turn to Jesus for healing? "Life with Christ is an endless hope, without him a hopeless end.” Author unknown
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Our shadows are quite interesting when we come to look at it. It has always been with us and yet it is not a reflection of ourselves as what we see in the mirror. Our shadows change in shape, in definition and in intensity, although it is always dark. In a way, we can say that our shadows may be a symbol of our dark side.
There is always a dark sinful side in us, and even as we try to grow in holiness, it seems that we have to struggle more with our sinfulness. As it is, the brighter the light, the darker the shadows will be.
In the 1st reading, St. Paul shared with us this experience of the spiritual struggle within him. After saying that he did the wrong things that he didn't intend to, he ended the sharing by saying in that wretched state of his, the only one who could come to his rescue was Jesus Christ our Lord.
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St Paul describes the experience of converts. They realize that before their conversion, notwithstanding their good will, they were incapable of following their conscience or the Law of Moses. But now that they know Christ, they can win their struggles against the evil within them. We experience a similar struggle going on in us. We are torn beings, with the enemy within us, capable of the best and the worst. But on account of Christ, even the worst in us can also be turned into the best.
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Jesus speaks of how people predicted the weather by clouds in the sky or by the blowing of the wind. If you know how to interpret these events of nature, he says, then you should be able to interpret the signs of the times too! Interpretation demands attention, and attention demands action. Pope St John Paul II had read the signs of the times. He spoke against increasing cases of abortion and euthanasia. In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae he warned of the culture of death that is becoming rampant in the world. He strongly opposed ‘a civilization of affluence and pleasure that lives as though sin did not exist, and as if God did not exist.’ Am I reading correctly the signs of the times?
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In its introduction, the Vatican II Constitution on the Church in the Modern World says: “The Church must continually examine the signs of the times and interpret them in the light of the gospel. Thus, she will be able to answer the questions that people are always asking about the meaning of this life and of the next and about the relation of this life and of the next and about the relation of one to the other, in a way adapted to each question.” By signs of the times, we mean currents of thought and attitudes behind events, aspirations, and the like. Take the hippies, the Jesus movement, Pentecostalism, women’s lib, the hunger for liberation, the rebellion of many of the young against consumerism and hypocrisy. Can we discover points of contact and of openness to the values of the gospel?
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Prayer
Lord our God, when today’s world hungers for justice, truth and spiritual values, perhaps disguised and distorted in a form hard to recognize, open our eyes and give us your Spirit of wisdom and discernment. May we thus learn to understand this world, to feel at home in it, and to discover the stepping-stones that could lead us all to you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
