Thursday of the
Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
(Wisdom 7:22b-8:1; Luke 17:20-25)
The first reading today remarkably resembles St. Paul’s “Hymn
to Love.” The passage begins with a
personification of wisdom as a spirit with many virtues: “In Wisdom is a spirit
intelligent, holy, unique…” So too Paul
will write of love as a person with excellent qualities: “Love is patient; love
is kind;…”
The author of Wisdom goes on to describe wisdom in
action. He writes: “…she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of
her purity…(she) renews everything while herself perduring; and passing
into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and
prophets.” Paul also describes acts
of love: “(Love) rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.”
People have observed how the name “Christ” may be
substituted for “love” with perfect sense in Paul’s letter: “(Christ) does not
seek (his) own interests; (Christ) is not quick-tempered; (Christ) does not
brood over injuries.” “Christ” may also replace
the word “wisdom” in today’s passage: “For
there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with (Christ). For (Christ) is fairer than the sun and
surpasses every constellation of the stars.”
We should not be surprised that Christ
epitomizes every virtue. He is, after
all, the perfect image of God, the Father.
