Luke 17: 20-25
The Coming of the Kingdom of God
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.
The Nature of Wisdom
There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible, 23 beneficent, humane,
steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.
24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.
25 For she is a breath of the power of God,
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.
26 For she is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.
27 Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets;
28 for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
29 She is more beautiful than the sun,
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be superior,
30 for it is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.
8 She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
and she orders all things well.
Today is BONUS DAY: These two excellent Scripture Readings, Veterans' Day, two Marist Encounters, and the Feast of St. Martin of Tours. What wouldn't we give for Wisdom! Well, it's spelled out here, was lived by St. Martin and implemented on 11/11/18 with the signing of the Armistice that ended the brutal fighting of World War I. Judging from the condition of the world today, however, Wisdom is still far from governing us, as failure after costly failure testifies. We need to take the Word of God seriously; we need to beg for God's help to remove self-centeredness, we need to welcome the grace and peace of God into our hearts and pass them on to others. Perhaps that should be the theme and our resolution today as we honor those who have served and are still serving. St. Martin was a soldier but gave us his sword after an encounter with Christ in the form of a poor beggar. May that same beggar speak to us today and help us advance the kingdom of God even by one small step.
Bro. Rene
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