Spirit of God, not world, helps us read signs of time - Pope

November 29, 2013 - A genuine Christian moulds his thinking in accordance with God, which is why he refuses thoughts that are uniform, equal and hence weak. The Pope shared this thought during Mass Friday morning at the Casa Santa Marta residence, during which he reflected on Jesus’ speaking about how to read the signs of the times through the parable of the budding fig tree from Luke’s Gospel. A follower of Jesus, the Pope said, cannot think solely with his head, but also with the heart and “the spirit that is within him”, or else he cannot understand ‘God’s role in history’. The Pope explained that the Lord wants that we understand what takes place in our hearts, our lives, in the world, in history and what they mean. But the spirit of the world makes other proposals of mass appeal devoid of thought and freedom. It wants a uniform road, against which St. Paul warns, saying “the spirit of the world treats us as if we lack the capacity to think freely by ourselves. Uniform, equal and weak thinking is so diffused in the world that the spirit of the world does not want to see us imploring God. The spirit of the world suggests readymade thoughts set to taste, the Pope said, warning it doesn’t want what Jesus asks of us – which is the free thought of a man and a woman who belong to the people of God which brings salvation, as the prophets had preached. Jesus asks us to think freely in order to understand what will happen. By ourselves we cannot attain the truth, the Pope said. We need God’s help to understand the signs of times and the Holy Spirit grants us the gift of intelligence to understand and not because others say it. The Pope thus urged all to ask for the spirit of intelligence so that we don’t follow weak and uniform thoughts but only thoughts according to God.