The importance of Wisdom runs throughout our readings
today. The queen of Sheba traveled from
far off lands to seek Solomon’s Wisdom.
And in the responsorial psalm we repeated, “the mouth of the just
murmurs wisdom”. In the Gospel, Jesus
very wisely teaches that it is not food or other ritual practices which makes a
man unclean, rather, it is moral choices.
One of my favorite lines from that great advent song, O Come
O Come Emmanuel, is the one about Wisdom: “O Come Thou Wisdom from on High, who
orders all things mightily; to us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in
her ways to go”
Wisdom helps us to order our lives, to keep our priorities
straight. In the Gospel Jesus’ Wisdom
points out the folly of mixed up priorities. What good is keeping kosher law,
if you are committing blasphemy? What good is keeping your hands clean if your
heart is unclean because of sin—because of murder, adultery, lust and greed and
envy. Get your priorities straight!
In the Psalm we heard how the heart of the just man is focused on the
law of God—on the moral law. The good man ponders, he meditates on the law of
God day and night, so that God’s law can permeate his life—his words and
deeds.
Wisdom helps us to order our life so it’s pointed toward heaven. Wisdom helps us to judge whether our
behaviors and attitudes are in keeping with a Christ like attitude or not.
In Baptism, Jesus gave us a new heart, a heart not made for
wicked designs, but to be a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, to be a place
out of which we live our lives wisely.
We seek to grow in wisdom today by meditating on the laws of
God, by letting God’s word inform our desires and actions.
May our lives be wisely ordered according to the teachings,
and thoughts, and attitudes of Christ this day for the glory of God and salvation
of souls.
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