In the twelfth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Our Lord refers to “reading the signs of the times.” He challenges the Pharisees and the Sadducees, noting that they can read the signs of nature to predict the weather, but they cannot interpret the signs of the times. These “signs,” we might say, are the ways in which God is showing them how to follow Him. Jesus then goes on to call the Pharisees and Sadducees “an evil and adulterous generation” and declare that the only sign they will be given is the Sign of Jonah, a sign that points to the Paschal Mystery of our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. Jonah spent three days in the belly of the whale. Jesus spent three days in the tomb after His death on the Cross, only to be raised on the third day; this is the sign that manifests to us God’s saving love.
The Second Vatican Council also referred to “reading the signs of the times” in a number of documents. Gaudium et Spes, the document on the relationship of the Church with the modern world, teaches, “At all times, the Church carries the responsibility of reading the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel…” (#4). This statement provides the key to reading the signs of the times in an authentic manner. That is to say, we do not interpret the Gospel in light of the current signs that the world, modern society, or contemporary culture offer us. Rather, we are called to interpret, or read, “the signs of the times,” the signs of current social ideas or of our culture, in the light of the truth of Jesus Christ expressed in the Gospel. Why is this so? Because it is Our Lord who reveals the eternal truth of our relationship with God and how we are to live in accord with it. The world does not reveal the eternal truth to us. We can say that the Sign of Jonah, the Mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection, always reveals to us the eternal truth of the Father’s never-failing, unconditional love for us. It is in the self-sacrificing death of our Lord and the power of His Resurrection that we find who we are and how we are to live our lives.
Of course, it is very important for us to keep an eye on the world. We must know what is happening on the global stage, in our national issues, in our cultural trends; what is affecting family life; the challenges of forming our children; and the affect of all this on our own physical and spiritual well-being. However, we should make no mistake about what the true compass is that gives us the capacity to read the signs of the times. This compass is the truth of the Gospel, our Catholic Faith, the Mystery of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Nothing can take precedence over the truth embodied in the Person of Jesus Christ.
We recognize, of course, that the human sciences of medicine, psychology, economics, politics, and all the other disciplines can be very helpful in making the world more human, and a place where all can live and flourish. However, we must be clear on the reality that they do not change the revealed eternal truth of Jesus Christ. For this truth does not accommodate itself to passing theories or studies. Rather, the exact opposite is true. The Gospel sheds light on human science and provides the doctrinal and moral foundation for interpreting of the signs of the times and human discoveries. We as Catholics know that no political system, human theory or ideology is our compass on how to live well in this world, with our hearts and our eyes set on the Kingdom. While science and human studies can provide us with helpful and even important information, our true compass is always Jesus Christ and his Gospel, taught by His Body the Church.
Dear friends, as we go to the polls to vote or as we examine which governmental policies to support, we do not make decisions based on personal likes or dislikes or long-standing political party affiliation. When we seek the common good in society, we cannot disregard the most vulnerable persons in our midst, the unborn children. We may never sacrifice the smaller and weaker persons in favor of the desires or the ideologies of the more powerful. As we live our lives in our world, in our nation and our society, we gain the direction we need from the teachings of Jesus Christ. We seek the wisdom, the knowledge, and the strength we need not from political platforms or worldly ideologies that threaten the most vulnerable and the most innocent in our midst, but rather, from Christ Himself. We read the signs of the times through the truth of the Sign of Jonah. For the Sign of Jonah proclaims that He died and rose from the dead for all people and not just some, for the weakest and voiceless as well as well as for the strong and the influential.
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh