Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin
(Wisdom 1:1-7; Luke
17:1-6)
Mark Twain turned
around a proverb by saying, “You can fool some of the people all of the time,
and all of the people some of the time.”
However, true that is, today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom
assures us that you cannot fool God. He
knows the heart of every person and judges who is worthy of wisdom.
Wisdom is apparently
in short supply today. Our society
revels in facts. Google can produce a
million of them in less than a second.
But facts are a far cry from wisdom.
Different sources make this point.
“Where is the knowledge among all these facts? Where is the wisdom among all this
knowledge?” Wisdom reflects on knowledge
to reveal what is truly life-giving, what is truly worth knowing.
Jesus, of course, is
the exemplar of wisdom. Today’s gospel
provides a good example. He tells us
that when we are offended, our first response should not be to forgive but to
correct. Of course, we should try to do
so in a friendly way. Then, if our
offender seeks forgiveness, we should readily forgive the person. We are wise never to hold a grudge and always
to forgive those who recognize their faults.
