Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Sirach 4:11-19; Mark 9:38-40)
Wisdom seeks what is truly good in life. Like a counterfeit detector, it sets off an
alarm with the superficially pleasing but ultimately disillusioning. Like a wine taste’s nose, it can sniff supreme
quality in a new vintage. In patriarchal
societies wisdom is compared to a woman with whom a person must share full and
lasting intimacy to realize its promise.
In today’s reading from the Book of Sirach wisdom is
described as a demanding companion who will discipline its pursuant. But for whatever investment of time or energy
it exacts, it brings the inestimable rewards of peace and happiness. This is to say as much as the Scriptural
dictate, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Making the effort to abide by God’s eternal
laws brings His infinite favor.
We live in a world with a myriad of information at our
fingertips but wisdom miles away. By taking
care not to become absorbed in the ease of attaining the former but ever pondering
its meaning we can achieve the latter.
