Monday of the
Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(Proverbs 3:27-34; Luke 8:16-18)
A lifetime ago poet T.S. Eliot asked of his generation
questions that seem even more relevant to ours.
“Where
is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?” Eliot wrote. And, “Where is the
knowledge we have lost in information?”
Our society seems to know more and more but acts with less and less prudence. Information abounds, but few seem to use it well. News media provides an example. All too often newspapers and TV news editorialize
as they report. They picture reality
through a distorted prism so that readers and viewers are left with a biased understanding
of what is happening. One can turn to Scripture as a more reliable source of knowledge and wisdom.
The passage from the Book of Proverbs today reminds us to be generous and
just. In the gospel Jesus uses proverbs to
teach the crowds. The wise, he says,
will listen carefully to worthy instruction or they will lose whatever edge
they have in facing life’s challenges. Jesus
is showing himself to be the fulfillment of Simeon’s prophecy at the gospel’s
beginning. He is the light of the
nations who comes to reveal God’s plan for the world.
Wisdom is not knowledge and much less mere information. It is truth about life which for most of us takes
a lifetime to comprehend. We can find it
most compactly in Jesus. If we are going
to reach life’s true objectives, we should heed all that he tells us and follow
always in his way.
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