A Search For Wisdom

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Saturday of 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Year 1, May 29th, 2021
Texts: Sir. 51:12c-20b; Ps. 19:8-11; Mark 11:27-33
Today's first reading tells us about a search for wisdom. It reminds us that wisdom is worth searching for. The wisdom, here, is the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of the world. The search for this wisdom begins with prayer, asking for it. God is the source of wisdom. This tells us that if we desire wisdom, we should ask for it in prayer. When we pray and ask for wisdom, we confess our ignorance.
The next step to be taken is to put personal effort into the search. The reading says, "While I was still young, before I went on my travels, I sought wisdom openly in my prayer. Before the temple I asked for her, and I will search for her to the last." The reading shows that wisdom could come through exposure and experience. Today there is no need to travel, for we are living in an age whereby the world has become a global village. We now have information at our fingertips. Reading is the way to go in our time. The first library to visit is the Bible. Today's psalm says, "The law of the Lord is perfect; it revives the soul. The decrees of the Lord are steadfast; they give wisdom to the simple." No matter the amount of knowledge we have without the knowledge of the gospel,  we go nowhere. Our knowledge must be enlightened by the value of the gospel.
We have to be strict and self-disciplined in our search for wisdom; we are to be focused and faithful to God. Self-discipline leads to purity, by which we obtain wisdom. It is said, "My soul grappled with wisdom, and in my conduct I was strict; I spread out my hands to the heavens, and lamented my ignorance of her. I directed my soul to her, and through purification I found her."
Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God; we are to search for Him through prayer, reading and meditation on God's word, and self-discipline and purification. In today's gospel reading, Jesus shows who He is, the Wisdom of God, in the question He asked the priests, scribes and elders; they could not beat Him, the wisdom of God. The Wisdom of God beats the wisdom of the world . This calls us to seek the wisdom of God instead of the wisdom of the world. Whoever has Jesus Christ has the wisdom of God.

Lord our God, help us to follow Your Son that we may gain the wisdom which comes from You. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke