Monday, September 24, 2018


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.