Sunday – 32nd Week in Ordinary Time – A

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ peace be with you in today's sunday readings on this 32nd sunday in ordinary time we examine what living wisely means in that today we can prepare and every day for our eternal encounter with Christ. We close our eyes in this life, we open them in the next, and so we need to live in a way where we are attentive to what truly matters, to what is of, true value. Jesus one time in the gospel elsewhere says, What does it profit a man that he gains the whole world but loses his soul? So to live in a way which reflects our awareness of what Jesus is here talking about. And for this we need wisdom.

And that is why the first reading for to day's Sunday is taken from the sixth chapter of wisdom, where wisdom is not simply here knowing things, or knowing what is right, but living with an awareness of what ultimately matters. The wise person recognizes that earthly life is temporary, and seeks God above everything else. Interestingly, wisdom is not presented as something distant or inaccessible. She actively seeks those who desire her, and here wisdom is personified personified as a most beautiful woman. It's almost like Saint Francis's lady poverty, how he personified poverty because of its value in simplifying our life and allowing us to trust more in God's problem. providence. This too was wisdom manifesting itself in the heart and mind of Saint Francis, which he shared with all of us because he knew how important it is and how much it helped him. My brothers and sisters, wisdom is radiant. It's unfading and accessible to those who truly want her. Those who remain attentive discover that wisdom herself comes to meet them. In to day's reading we hear “whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate” (Wisdom 6:14). God gives us this gift of wisdom. It's not something that is rarely found or impossible to acquire, but it's meant for all of us.

In the second reading Saint Paul describes how if we are wise, our hope will not eliminate the sorrow of death, but it transforms it through the certainty of Christ's resurrection. Paul does not tell Christians that they should never grieve. He simply reminds us that death does not have the final word. Our ultimate destiny is not simply to survive death. but to enter into everlasting communion with Christ. This hope should shape how we live today. Paul consoles christians grieving the death of loved ones, and he assures them that those who have died in Christ will share in his resurrection. The faithful will ultimately be united with the Lord forever. And as he says in the reading “thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). How beautiful to think that he and all those first century saints who gave up their lives to follow Jesus have been with him every single day since then in eternal paradise. Not one day goes by where they're bored or something isn't new. My friends it's something beyond our human imagination what God has prepared for those who love him.