32nd Tuesday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 2: 23 – 3: 9; Ps 34; Luke 17: 7 – 10
The practice of Lectio Divina is a special grace of our monastic life and for many who do not live in monasteries. St. Benedict is insistent on setting aside quality time so as to reflect on, penetrate into and be transformed by God’s Sacred Word. Lectio is a most personal way of embracing and being embraced by the Holy Spirit, it is a communion of Eternal Life.
The reading from the Book of Wisdom begins with: “God formed man to be imperishable; the image of His own nature He made them.” That brief verse speaks of our nobility, our dignity and our destiny as willed by our God. This is a truth we need to hear, not only to hear but to come to believe with the deepest conviction. Our culture challenges and even denies this truth in a society that, if not professing atheism openly, lives it under other names.
And so, what happens in our depths, yours and mine, when we take that verse from Wisdom, change a few words and read it carefully, prayerfully, intently and slowly: “O my God, You formed me to be imperishable; in the image of Your own nature You made me”? Whatever we hear, is addressed personally to each one of us by our God. Whatever we hear becomes our own personal gift of Wisdom, truth for our own lives in the journey of faith that we are making each day.
At the end of the reading from Wisdom, the author, inspired by God, makes a prophecy, a promise to us and to all who seek Him through His sacred word. The author proclaims with complete faith: “Those who trust in Him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with Him in love: Because grace and mercy are with His holy ones and His care is with His elect.”
It is through our encounter with and our entrance into God’s sacred word that we know ourselves to be among those who trust in Him, who rejoice to abide with Him in love, who are aware of His grace and mercy, who believe more and more in our God’s personal presence. With this in mind, how can we not open ourselves to His Word with desire?
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