Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
Rm 7,18-25a; Ps 118; Lk 12,54-59
25 OCTOBER
The flesh evaluates according to the flesh, the spirit according to the spirit and wisdom according to wisdom. Saint Paul reveals to the Corinthians that man according to the flesh does not understand the things of God. He sees from the flesh. The things of God must be seen by the Spirit of the Lord.
When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God, 1 I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this age knew; for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,” this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms. Now the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment by anyone. For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?” But we have the mind of Christ (1Cor 2,1-16).
Can we know the things of God, even if not in a perfect way? Yes. We can. But power is conditioned to the elimination of sin from our soul and disobedience from our heart. Sin diverts the eyes from the things of the Spirit and directs them towards the things of the flesh. Instead, obedience distracts the eyes from the things of the flesh and directs them towards the things of the Spirit. The flesh makes a discernment according to the flesh. The Spirit works discernments according to the Spirit. It all begins with the dwelling of our heart and mind in the Law of the Lord. From the Law every spiritual discernment is always possible. From the flesh it is always impossible. Crowds cannot understand Jesus. Jesus works by the Spirit and by the Spirit speaks. Crowds operate from sin and evaluate and judge from sin.
He also 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? “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
Today it is as if Christians were all struck by a spirit of torpor, sloth, insensitivity and even by a spirit of lies that transforms and reduces the Word of the Lord to lies. This is the sign that sin has taken possession of our soul, the disobedience of our spirit and the vice of our body. Proceeding from sin to sin, one comes to the suffocation of the truth in injustice. When the limits of evil are exceeded, one falls into sin against the Holy Spirit and it is eternal death for the person. No discernment from darkness. We need a powerful external grace, fruit of the Word filled with the Holy Spirit. The missionary of the Gospel must bring this grace to the world. Salvation comes through him.
Mother of God, Angels and Saints make every Christian a powerful grace of redemption and of life.