Overview:

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus said to the crowds,
“When you see a cloud rising in the west
you say immediately that it is going to rain—and so it does;
and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south
you say that it is going to be hot—and so it is.
You hypocrites!
You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky;
why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” (Lk 12:54-56)

Find today’s readings here.

Unless you are part of the 1 percent of Americans who work on a farm, you probably do not rely on the clouds and the winds to predict the weather. There is, as they say, an app for that. 

And again, unless you are a farmer, the stakes of the weather are relatively low: “Should I bring an umbrella or jacket?” not “Will I be able to feed my family this year?”

When Jesus called the people of his time hypocrites for knowing how to “interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky,” he was calling them out for something that they probably did rather obsessively because their livelihood depended on it. 

Today, we obsess over predicting future events that may or may not be so consequential. What does the latest polling data say about my preferred candidate? Will the trade the [insert your favorite football team here] just made wreck my fantasy league? Or, more consequential for me at least, what will the latest tweak to Google’s algorithm mean for the financial viability of the media industry?

Paying attention to such information is not, in and of itself, wrong. But Jesus is telling us: Compare the time and energy you invest in becoming an expert in politics or sports or industry analytics with the time and energy you spend “to interpret the present time.” 

Reading “the signs of the times,” as the Vatican II document “Gaudium et Spes” tells us, means more than paying attention to church news, looking at world events through a “Catholic lens” or even “finding God in all things,” as St. Ignatius says. It may mean doing all those things but in service of a “solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served” (“Gaudium et Spes,” No. 3).

Jesus is asking us to pay attention to the places where we are called to correct the lies that are undermining the pursuit of justice in our societies. Today, lies abound about the dignity of the unborn and the migrant. What can I do today to witness to the truth of their inherent, infinite worth?

Jesus is asking us to pay attention to those who may be straying from God’s path, and to help, not judge them. Today, through the implementation of “Amoris Laetitia,” we are better learning what helping those who don’t live up to the church’s ideals looks like: listening, accompanying, including. 

Jesus is asking us to pay attention to our neighbors, near and far, whom we are called to serve. Who in my family is struggling silently and needs an ear? Who in my community is down on their luck and needs a hand? 

Today’s Gospel tells us: Pay attention. Bring what you see to prayer. And then act “to carry forward the work of Christ” in our world today. 

Ashley McKinless is an executive editor at America and co-host of the ‘Jesuitical’ podcast.