"You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?" Jesus' criticism of His hearers (He called them 'hypocrites') was that they had common-sense and knowledge about ordinary life and human affairs, yet didn't seem to understand that the messianic era had already arrived among them, and the judgement time was close. It was time, in other words, to put things in order, to be ready for the Day of the Lord.

'Reading the signs of the times' became a favourite phrase in the Church in the years after the Vatican Council II. Perhaps recently it hasn't been repeated so often, yet it is as relevant as ever today. We are so knowledgeable about so many things these days (not only the weather), and have easy access to so much information, that people now talk of 'information overload'. Maybe we're even in danger of losing common-sense because of so much overload of information and advice. But are we any better than people of Jesus' time in discerning the presence and action of God among us?

For present-day Christians, what are the 'signs of the times'? It is what's going on in human society around the world, as well as in the community of believers. International relationships, maybe economic and political ones in particular, affect all our lives and the lives of God's "poor ones". Where is God's voice in this?