Discerning the signs of the times: an important theme of the Second Vatican Council
In the daily exercise of our apostolic ministry, we are often offended when we learn what certain people are saying, who are filled with religious zeal yet lack correct judgment and level-headedness in their way of seeing things. They see only ruins and calamities in society’s present situation. They are used to saying that our day and age has worsened profoundly in comparison with past centuries. They behave as if history, which is the teacher of life, had nothing to teach them and as if at the time of past Councils, everything had been perfect where Christian doctrine, customs and the Church’s just freedom were concerned.
It seems to us that we must state our complete disagreement with these prophets of doom, who always announce catastrophes as though the world were near its end.
In the present course of events when society seems to be at a turning point, it is better to acknowledge the mysterious plans of divine Providence which, through the succession of times and the work of human beings, and most of the time against all expectations, reach their goal and arrange everything with wisdom for the good of the Church, even events that are in opposition to it.
St. Philip Neri