Our first reading today is again from the Book of Wisdom. What an amazing book! In it, Wisdom is always referred to as a female personal pronoun, she. More in a moment. In the Gospel reading today from Luke 17, the Pharisees want to know from Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. Jesus replies, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” Unfortunately, they could not see. Even today, some still can’t.
Wisdom is a funny thing to describe, wouldn’t you say? It isn’t knowledge, though knowledge is certainly part of the equation. But there are plenty who have lots of knowledge but very little wisdom. It isn’t street smarts. Lots of people have those, but lack wisdom. There are some old sayings that are helpful…”With age comes wisdom.” I’ve also heard this one…”Wisdom is what you get after you realize you don’t know everything.” I’m not sure I can really define it, but I know it is something for which we should strive.
In the Book of Wisdom, Wisdom is portrayed as a beautiful woman that the sacred author pines for. He longs to have her, to know her. When God told Solomon that he could have anything he asked for, he asked for only one thing. Wisdom. Seems to me that asking for wisdom is really the first part of attaining wisdom. So, how about you? Are you asking God for wisdom today?
Father, we ask that you will grant us wisdom. May we pursue her daily, seek her out, and gratefully accept all that You give us. Amen.
Wisdom is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You'll find a chapter on Wisdom (and a whole lot more) in A Minute in the Church: Back to the Basics, available now at www.GusLloyd.com.
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