WE NEED REAL WISDOM
We are prepared to work hard, to make big sacrifices, in order to acquire what we consider most valuable and deserving. But in this pursuit, we are always in danger of being deceived by appearances; our priorities are often mistaken.
We often invest all our energies on things that "rust and moth consume", and so, at the end of our life, we find ourselves empty-handed, or with things totally valueless for the life to come.
We need the real wisdom. The wisdom necessary to prioritize values and give to the highest ones the place they deserve. We need the wisdom that leads us to give priority to God's kingdom, more than anything else, in our daily life. We need the "wisdom of God", the one possessed in full by Jesus. God's Kingdom should be our top priority. The quest for the kingdom is the enterprise on which we should invest all our resources because, in the end, this is the only venture that will really succeed. The kingdom is the only "strong currency" which will never suffer inflation and will never be devaluated.
There are many people who do not take the values of the kingdom seriously. All that counts, for them, is the material or emotional satisfaction they can derive from things they can touch and count.
On the other side of the scale, luckily, there are many people who have made and still make their own the values of the Kingdom. Having come to appreciate the preciousness of moral values, such as charity, honesty, sincerity, prayer, intimacy with God, they have rejected anything that is incompatible with the values of the gospel in order to preserve these virtues as the most valuable treasure. They fight to preserve them or reconquer them. They cling to these virtues as most valuable treasures. Are we on this side of the scale?
May the Lord give us the real wisdom we need to value his kingdom more than anything else in life. May He give us the strength to reject anything that is incompatible with the values of the Kingdom.
Fr. Cipriano Bontacchio