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Readings for Today. Listen to our other podcasts.
Best New Mobile App
It is the best new mobile app ever. We hear that in the first reading today. Little did we know that the God of all eternity would finally make it clear to us which mobile app is the best. It is wisdom.
This Book of Wisdom that we’re hearing from is just overwhelming. It’s a wonderful book to read in its entirety. Because what it’s really trying to do is not so much say, okay, here are all the steps to getting wisdom. Rather, it is a book that is about saying, this is why wisdom is so valuable. This is why it is so precious.
We live in an age, I think particularly since the Enlightenment, that really says that if we think hard enough, if we work diligently enough, if we do enough things, everything will be perfect. If there are problems, we just haven’t worked hard enough. If there are difficulties in people’s lives, we just haven’t been generous enough. If there are challenges that we face as a planet, as a people, we just simply haven’t told them enough.
On so many issues, we think the solution is that if we just do a little bit more, then in fact, the problem will be solved. But so often in the Gospels, and certainly in the Old Testament in this Book of Wisdom, the beginning isn’t what we do, it’s who we are.
What do I mean by that? What I mean is that when we recognize that first and foremost, we are a creature, not a creator, [and] although we can be a creator, when we realize that we are primarily a creature, that is to say, one made by God, and place ourselves in humility before that God, recognizing that everything we need to know can be found in God. The inspiration for everything we need to do can be found in God.
And in fact, we have to go before our God with humility to recognize that we don’t know all there is to know. Without God’s grace, we cannot do all those things that need to be done. And that’s really the beauty of this book of wisdom. And I say this because it’s very clear what is necessary for us to receive wisdom.
The expression is the fear of the Lord is behind all wisdom. Now it’s not fear in the sense of being afraid. God does not call us to be afraid of Him. But just as Moses was called to remove his sandals in the presence of the burning bush, which was ultimately the presence of God, we are called to recognize with awesome wonder that we stand in God’s presence.
The Second Vatican Council tells us in Lumen Gentium that the best way we stand in God’s presence, or as it says, the source and the summit is in the Eucharist. Every single time we come to Mass, Jesus is present.
Now Jesus is present in a number of ways at Mass. He’s present in you, the body of Christ. He’s present in the ministers. He’s present when we pray and sing. All those things are true. But Lumen Gentium is clear. Jesus is most present in the Eucharist. Body and blood, soul and divinity. That’s the beginning of wisdom.
When we can recognize that every time we place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, every single time we come to the Mass, we are asking God whether we realize it or not to change us. The instructions of the Mass make it quite clear.
They say we should be qualitatively different when we leave mass than we were when we came. The whole purpose of Mass is not simply to show up, although that’s the beginning. You can’t get much out of Mass if you’re not here.
But the whole beginning is to recognize that the goal is to become more and more like the person of Jesus, to become more and more the Christ. That is ultimately salvation. We will share fully and completely in Jesus by being like Him. Today, let us ask the Lord for this mobile wisdom, for this great gift, for this recognition that everything we need to know about following Jesus is made clear when we place ourselves in the presence of wisdom.
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