“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.” I remember hearing this saying many times growing up from my father. Although my father had been in the Navy, he was not really a sailor but just like this proverb or common saying. Jesus uses a similar weather saying in today’s Gospel: “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain…when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot.” These signs are good weather predictors in Galilee. A cloud in the west means a cloud over the Mediterranean Sea which brings rain. Wind from the south means hot winds from the desert.
Jesus tells us we need to interpret the signs of the times not just the weather signs but the signs of God. God the Father has sent a special sign to us through Jesus’ preaching, teachings, healings, and death on the Cross. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are signs of God’s love, mercy, and compassion. Jesus calls us to respond to these signs in our daily life. Paul in today’s first reading shows us how to respond to the signs of the times:
“I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace; one Body and one Spirit…”
Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, calls us to respond to the signs of our own time:
“Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature, to bring the light of Christ to all, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church.
“Today, in many parts of the world, under the inspiring grace of the Holy Spirit, many efforts are being made in prayer, word and action to attain that fullness of unity which Jesus Christ desires. The Sacred Council exhorts all the Catholic faithful to recognize the signs of the times and to take an active and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, ##1, 4)
Image: “Signs of the Times” by Ron Guest is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.