S St. John Paul II t. John Paul II
After Christ has spoken to his disciples, He then turns to the crowd to teach them about the world affairs at large in relations to His second coming. Christ’s audience subsisted through agriculture or harvesting from the sea, it would be more than logical that they would understand the signs of coming weather… If clouds rise in the West then showers could be expected, because the sea is that direction from Jerusalem.
Likewise, a Southern wind would dictate hot weather coming because South of Jerusalem lay the vast, dry deserts.
That means, they could either house their crops or carry them for a journey. They could make hay while the sun shines or keep them in store. It means therefore, that if they are weather-wise, observe the winds and clouds that there could be rain or hot weather.
He expected them to be able to ascertain the signs of both His coming and that of the final days. This, He would have them to be wise in the affairs of their souls as they are in weather forecast.
However, we all know that nature is not tied to such a track because it is unpredictable. Christ wants them to discern the way of salvation and to see it as privilege because we do not know the day or hour of His second coming. Since, God has made it so that the weather can change at anytime, it means that, Now is the acceptable time. It is now or never.
Each generation of mankind feels superior intellectually to the generations before their time because we stand on the shoulders of those who went before us who shared their gained knowledge which we then built upon. One may smugly assume that we have over two thousand years of knowledge, built up like Lego blocks, on which we stand to understand and see the signs Christ spoke of more clearly.
I think we too must be missing quite a few of those knowledge blocks in our generation. The people Christ spoke to, including his disciples, did not understand and all these centuries later, neither do I.
The same idea could be inferred as captured by Paul in today’s first reading. He described the conflict between grace and the corruption in the heart, a dilemma between doing following the right and doing the wrong things, between the law of God and the law of sin. This is a struggle that is in a renewed soul and yet in a state of imperfection.
One may have a desire for holiness and yet it is overpowered by the inordinate passion for sin. It is as a result of indwelling corruption in the heart and it is by grace, obedience and striving to follow the right path that helps us in our faith struggle and salvation’s journey. Using the words of St. John Paul II whom the celebrates today we can affirm and encourage ourselves that ,“Darkness can only be scattered by light, hatred can only be conquered by love.”
One thing is clear, I know that real understanding is a journey, in which that journey is just as important as the destination. So, we do not look for signs that point to the end of times but for signs that point out the right path.
It is your light on my path that I pray for today, for You are the way, the truth, and the light. I figure that if we can stay on the right path, then we don’t need to worry about the final days, the end of times, Christ’s final coming. Jesus The Way, will get me where I need to be. Mother Mary help us.
St. John Paul II -pray for us.
