Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom: Gold likened unto sand.
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading I: Wisdom 7:7-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17
Reading II: Hebrews 4:12-13
Alleluia: Matthew 5:3
Gospel: Mark 10:17-30 or 10:17-27
Today’s Readings Audio:
Solomon Prayed and Wisdom and Riches Came to Him (Wisdom 7:7-11)
In today’s first reading, King Solomon recounts his prayer for wisdom. This was in response to 1 Kings 3:5 when God says to him at Gibeon, “Whatever you ask I shall give you.” Wisdom is a great thing to ask for and Solomon recounts that wisdom is greater than gold and silver, or health and beauty. Yet God gives all these things to King Solomon in addition to wisdom.
When we look at wisdom, we should look at the definition, because someone can have intelligence beyond measure, but not be wise. The definitions below are from Oxford Languages
noun. the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.
"listen to his words of wisdom"
We can then compare wisdom to intelligence.
noun. the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.
"an eminent man of great intelligence"
A person can be highly intelligent, but not be wise. There are many examples of that throughout all of history, and maybe to an extent, me. It is having different experiences and the gaining of knowledge and how we make our judgements that makes us wise. One could argue that a smart high school student who gets a scholarship to attend college and decides to buy a $100K car after graduation without having a job to support it, would be an unwise decision.
I see many arguments on X between Protestants and Catholics in which neither side makes good use of wisdom. They have read Scriptures, but not studied them, and have not discerned and gained wisdom from them. Politicians today seem to be utterly devoid of wisdom, on any side of the aisle. They act rashly and on whims and chase after polls, but never sit down to look to consider what the aftermath of their policies is going to be.
I also see parents so detached from their children that there is no passing down of wisdom. They have given their children over to televisions and computers or tablets or smartphones. They don’t pass down whatever wisdom they may have received from their own parents.
Wisdom is so much greater than all of these things, but we outsource it too often.
So, today’s question is, how are you going to gain and acquire wisdom? Not just knowledge, but wisdom. My first recommendation is to sit down with the Bible and start with the Books of Wisdom and Ecclesiastes.
The Sabbath Rest (Hebrews 4:12-13)
Today’s reading from St. Paul to the Hebrew sis the tail end of the section called “The Sabbath Rest” so out of context, it may not appear related to anything. I would recommend going and reading the entire section from Hebrews 4:1-13 for the entire context.
But looking at these two paragraphs, it is important that we understand that the Word of God is not dead. The words on the pages in the Bible are not simply some portions of history consigned to the past. The Word is as important and relevant today as it was 2000 years ago and earlier. True study of the word of God will reveal to us areas of our life where we need improvement. It will reveal our failings. But it also provides us with remedies. There is pretty much a psalm for every occasion in life; happiness and joy, sorrow and depression, new life and death and loss.
But we also need to realize as well, there is no hiding from God. Even as Jonah tried to run from going to Ninevah, we often try to hide. And maybe not so much hide, but to justify our actions.
“I can’t go to Mass today because Johnny has a soccer game.”
or
“It wasn’t really stealing because the company I work for makes billions of dollars a year in profit, they won’t miss this one little item.”
or “Abortion was okay because she was a single mother and needed to be able to work.”
All of these things that we think are hidden from God will be shown back to us when we stand in judgment before him when we die. They are not hidden.
My recommendation today, brothers and sisters, is that we read and study God’s Word and bring what we learn into our daily lives. If there are sins that we have hidden from God, we need to bring them to Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive his forgiveness.
The Rich Man (Mark 10:17-30)
In today’s gospel reading there is a long version and a short version. Much like how it is done at our parish, you will always get the long version here.
Today, there is a rich man, and he approaches Jesus and asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him he must keep the commandments to which the man replies that he has done that since his youth.
21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
22 At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.Mark 10:21-22
The man leaves downtrodden because he has a lot of possessions, and he is attached to them. Jesus continues the conversation with his disciples, and they ask him who can be saved since the way of salvation seems to be extremely hard.
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”
Mark 10:27
When looking at today’s world, we have come to accumulate a lot of possessions. And if we don’t have them already, there are many means of acquiring them that generally require the accumulation of debt in addition to the possession. We have not learned temperance, and we tend to live well above our means.
Greed and avarice override many of our urges to temperance and instead of building up wealth in the Kingdom of Heaven, we build it up here on earth. And as such, we often sacrifice our relationship with Jesus for the accumulation of more things. When I was growing up, it was unheard of for many of the stores to be open on Sunday except in the mall that was about a 30-minute drive away. The only thing open in our town was the Ames department store, two grocery stores, and some restaurants and they all closed early. The focus was on rest and not money with many people going to church.
We need to evaluate ourselves and what our priorities are. So much of what we accumulate we either do not need or we do not need it right now. We need to learn temperance. We need to be able to give what we ought to Jesus, whether it be time or talent or treasure.
Let us take the time to follow Jesus.
Act of Heroic Love
Lord God, our best Father, out of my love for
You, and for Your greater glory, in union with
the sacrifice of Your Son, I relinquish all the
satisfactory values of any good deeds I will ever
perform and all indulgences that I will ever obtain
during my life or which others may offer for me
after my death. I offer all these spiritual benefits to
You through the intercession of Mary Immaculate