People have always been interested in the weather and the climate. In a very particular way, farmers and seafarers have questioned the state of the sky, the direction of the wind, the shape of the clouds, in order to venture a forecast for their tasks. Our Lord, in the Gospel of the Mass1 , points this out to those who listen to him, fishermen and country people for the most part: When you see a cloud rising from the west, you immediately say: it is going to rain. And when the south blows, you say: it is going to be hot. Jesus confronts them, because they know how to foresee the rain and the good weather through the signs that appear on the horizon, but they do not know how to discern the signs, more abundant and clearer, that God sends so that they may find out and know that the Messiah has already arrived: how can you not know how to interpret this weather, he asks them. Many lacked good will and uprightness of intention, and closed their eyes to the light of the Gospel. The signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God are sufficiently clear in the Word of God, which reaches them so directly, in the abundant miracles performed by the Lord, and in the very Person of Christ that they have before their eyes. In spite of so many signs, many of them already announced by the Prophets, they did not know how to judge the present situation. God was in their midst and many did not realize it.
The Lord continues to pass close to our lives, with sufficient references, and there is a danger that on some occasions we may not recognize him. He is present in sickness or tribulation, which purifies us if we know how to accept and love it; he is present, in a hidden but real way, in the people who work in the same task and need help, in those who share the warmth of their own home, in those whom we meet every day for so many different reasons.... Jesus is behind this good news, and he is waiting for us to go and thank him, in order to grant us new ones. There are many occasions in which he is found.... What a pity if we did not know how to recognize him because we were excessively preoccupied or distracted, or lacking in piety, in the presence of God!
Wouldn't our life be very different if we were more aware of this divine presence? Wouldn't it be true that a lot of routine, bad moods, sorrows and sadness would disappear...? What would it matter to us then to play one role or another, if we know that God likes and appreciates the one we have been given? "If we lived more trusting in divine Providence, certain - with strong faith - of this daily protection that never fails us, how many worries and concerns we would be spared. So many anxieties would disappear, which, as Jesus said, are characteristic of pagans, of worldly people (Lk 12:30), of people who lack supernatural sense", of those who live as if the Master had not stayed with us.