32nd Week, Thursday, Nov 16; Saint Margaret of Scotland

 32nd Week, Thursday, Nov 16

Wisdom 7:22-8:1 / Luke 17:20-25

Wisdom is all-seeing; Wisdom defeats wickedness.

 In her book, A Grandma's Letters to God, Ruth Youngdahl Nelson tells this story. On a hill overlooking Weinsberg, Germany, is a huge fortress. One day, in feudal times, the fortress was surrounded by an enemy. The enemy commander agreed to let all women and children leave the fortress. He also agreed to let the women take with them one valuable possession.

You can imagine the consternation of the enemy commander when he saw the women leave the fortress with their husbands on their backs. The secret to wisdom is love. Love gives us an insight that nothing else does.

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Have we ever experienced the insight that love alone can provide? Speaking to the Little Prince about love and life, the Fox says: "'It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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The author of the book of Wisdom gives high praise to wisdom. She is personified, she is like a spirit that moves. She is like the breath of God that orders all things well.

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 The author enumerates here 21 qualities of wisdom. The ancient writer believed that numbers have a hidden meaning. Three refers to the divine, seven expresses perfection. When reading the twenty-one adjectives, stop a moment after each and think: Does this apply especially to God? Holy, almighty, she (wisdom) can do all, herself unchanged, more splendid than the sun and so on. It is certain that the Old Testament author did not think of the three divine persons. But after the mystery of the blessed trinity had been revealed in the New Testament, theologians readily found in this passage access to the understanding of the mystery. "Sanctifying spirit," "the inspiration of the prophets," "the Spirit that leads us into all the Truth," ordering all things for good, not only every adjective but every sentence helps us to understand God better. St Augustine said: In the Old Testament the New is already hidden. In the New Testament, the Old is fully explained. God like a good teacher opens the truth for us gradually. Through Christ and the Holy Spirit, we are led into the fullness of Truth.

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Books and movies about prophecies and predicting the future are usually of much interest to people. Maybe because it is our human tendency to want to have a hold on the future in order to have a sense of security. Yet we may get so engrossed about the future that we may lose hold of the present. 

We may forget to live in the here and the now. That was what Jesus meant when he said that the Kingdom of God is among you. In other words, God's Kingdom is in the present and the now; and God's name is "I AM". God wants to be present in the now of our lives and it is in the here and the now that God reveals Himself to us.

 Our present situation and circumstances may not be very rosy. We may be struggling with our difficulties and worries. Yet it is in those difficulties and worries that God wants to make Himself present and to reveal to us His saving power. It is only when we walk with God in the present that we can have the hope and the courage to walk into the future.

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To the Pharisees and perhaps to the disciples too, anxiously looking for signs, Jesus says: The kingdom of God is among you, right in your midst. It is already present in our lives. In other words, be wise and be committed to the present, to building up God’s kingdom now. Seek eternity and eternal life in the present, and God’s good day will come in God’s good time.

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Prayer

Lord our God, your kingdom is not an established order but something that is alive and always coming. Make us aware that it is to be found where we let you reign, where we and the kingdom of people give way to your kingdom, where we let your justice and love and peace take the place of our fumbling and stumbling. Lord, establish your kingdom among us through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen

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Saint Margaret of Scotland

Feast day November 16

For Saint Margaret—a wife, a mother, and a queen—giving money was never enough. She was with those who were poor, making sure they had food and clothes. Margaret was born about 1045. She was raised in the Hungarian court, for she was from the line of nobility. When she was 12, she was sent to the English court of Edward the Confessor and further educated. When the Normans conquered England, Margaret, her mother, her brother, and her sister tried to return to Hungary. Their ship was blown off course and landed in Scotland. They were welcomed by King Malcolm III, who fell in love with the beautiful and gentle Margaret. They were married in 1070.

Scotland was a rough country, and although Malcolm was a good man, he was more of a soldier than a scholar or courtly gentleman. But Margaret helped him become a virtuous, gracious leader. They had eight children; all of them grew to love those who were poor and to care for them as their parents had. The youngest, David, was thought of as a saint by the people.

Margaret was prayerful. She gathered women together to study the Scriptures and to embroider vestments and altar cloths. She was always surrounded by beggars, and she gave them money and clothes. She helped ransom the English who had been captured, and she set up homes and hospitals for those in need. She and her husband would go to church during Lent and Advent. On the way home, they would wash the feet of poor people in need and give them money. At home, Margaret fed nine orphans who were brought to her daily. She brought a love of the arts and education to the people, and they loved her in return. Her children are believed to be primarily responsible for two centuries of progress and peace in Scotland.

Margaret died four days after her husband’s death in 1093. In 1250, she was canonized and later declared patroness of Scotland.