Wednesday, July 17, 2002
15th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Is 10:5-7, 13-16
Gospel:
Mt 11:25-27
On one occasion Jesus said, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I
praise you, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned
and revealed them to simple people. Yes, Father, this is what pleased
you.
Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son
except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those
to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
Commentary
Wise and learned people always have a lot of things to say. They don't know how to keep silence. A diocese organized a seminar on "Empowering the Laity" with two speakers, a priest and a lay. The priest was the first to speak. When he finished his presentation there were only 15 minutes left for the lay person's talk. The priest did not "empower" the laity. Intelligent people are not excluded from the faith, of course, but it is the glory of God that faith should not seem to be the privilege of the wise and the learned. There were in Palestine at the time some wise people and many others who pretended to be so, but they were rarely seen among the disciples of Jesus. "If you talk, the Word will remain silent," said Tauler.