Among the saints the Church may recall on this Friday of the twenty-ninth week in Ordinary Time is John of Capistrano, a Franciscan priest, and today we meet Paul, a psalm and a crowd that reads the sky with ease. Our difficulty lies in the hour itself, which we read badly, and in the quarrels that remain unsettled among us. A cloud on the horizon will lead us there.
And he also said to the crowds: "When you see a cloud rising from the setting of the sun, immediately you say, 'A rain cloud is coming.' And so it does. And when a south wind is blowing, you say, 'It will be hot.' And so it is. You hypocrites! You discern the face of the heavens, and of the earth, yet how is it that you do not discern this time? And why do you not, even among yourselves, judge what is just? So, when you are going with your adversary to the ruler, while you are on the way, make an effort to be freed from him, lest perhaps he may lead you to the judge, and the judge may deliver you to the officer, and the officer may cast you into prison. I tell you, you will not depart from there, until you have paid the very last coin." (Lk 12:54-59)
The first reading comes from Paul, the apostle of the nations, who writes as a prisoner in the Lord. He begs his readers to walk in a manner worthy of the vocation they have received. That worthy way is made of "all humility and meekness, with patience, supporting one another in charity" (Ep 4:2), and it asks for no great deed. Paul speaks of patience, and patience is only asked of people who must bear with one another.
Paul gives this patient walking a single ground. We are asked to preserve the unity of the Spirit within the bonds of peace, because there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ep 4:5), and one God who is Father of all. Unity is already given, and it gathers the scattered as the Son and the Father are one.
The psalm, in which David, the king of Israel, confesses that the earth and all its fullness belong to the Lord, asks who may climb the mountain of God. The answer is a people, the innocent of hands and the clean of heart, "the generation that seeks him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob" (Ps 23:6). Discerning is therefore a search for the face of God in what happens to us, and those who seek it are the ones the psalm names.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells the crowds that they read a cloud in the west and a south wind with perfect assurance. But he asks, "how is it that you do not discern this time?" (Lk 12:56). The crowds know the face of the heavens and of the earth. What escapes them is the hour in which God stands before them. To discern the signs of the times is to read our lives, our wounds and the events of the world in the light of God, looking in them for the presence of Christ.
The word he uses is a hard one, hypocrites. And yet Christ does not condemn here: he awakens the conscience. That is why a second question follows, nearer to home: "why do you not, even among yourselves, judge what is just?" (Lk 12:57). To judge what is just is to look at our relationships, our choices and our desires in the light of truth and peace.
The example that follows is taken from a road, with an adversary walking beside us toward the judge. Jesus asks us to "make an effort to be freed from him" (Lk 12:58) while we are still on the way. Conversion is thus a healing, and it begins with reconciliation. Where evil divides, Christ asks us to rebuild the bond and to make peace, settling our conflicts before God and with one another.
Here Paul and Jesus speak with one voice. In the Gospel, unity appears in the negative, as the order to settle our quarrels. In Paul, it appears in the positive, as the call to work for peace. Behind both stands the same Kingdom, already in our midst, and it gathers because God is one. We are entering a new season in which God makes all things new. Its signs are the seeds of fraternity, reconciliation and justice, which we are asked to perceive and to foster. The Risen Christ is hidden in them, and yet he guides our steps.
In the spirituality of Bethlehem, a place is only the beginning of a way of standing in the world. The Child who was born there wins through trusting smallness, and he teaches the gentleness that disarms, the poverty that frees and the humility that heals. And God does not take the inner struggle away from us, even on a road beside an adversary: he enters it with us, so that the fire of his grace burns what shuts us in.
So let us learn to read the present time as those who seek his face. In our homes, our communities and our work, a quarrel waits to be settled while we are still on the road, and a seed of peace waits to be perceived. The cloud on the horizon is familiar. What we are asked to recognize is the Christ who walks in the hour that it announces.
Scripture text: Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV), public domain.
Prayer of the Day
Lord Jesus, Child of Bethlehem, you came among us in trusting smallness. Teach us to read our own time with gentleness, to seek your face where we are divided, and to be reconciled while we are still on the way. Give us humility and patience, that we may keep the unity of the Spirit and walk worthy of our calling. Amen.
For Meditation
- Which clouds and winds do we read with ease, and which hour of our own lives do we still refuse to discern?
- With whom are we walking on the road, and what would it cost us to be reconciled before the journey ends?
- Where do we see seeds of fraternity and peace around us, and how can we help them grow?
