Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Homily: Thursday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time - "Living Wisely"

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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