＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

1 Timothy 3: 14-16

  I give you these instructions, although I hope I will see you soon.  

If I delay, you will know how you ought to conduct yourself in the household of God, that is, the Church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.  How great indeed is the mystery of divine blessing!

He was shown in the flesh

and sanctified by the Spirit;

presented to the angels

and proclaimed to all nations.

The world believed in him:

He was taken up in glory!

  ＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

 Luke 7: 31-35

And Jesus said, ” What comparison can I use for the people? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, about whom their companions complain: ‘We piped you a tune and you wouldn’t dance; we sang funeral songs and you wouldn’t cry.’

 Remember John: he didn’t eat bread or drink wine, and you said: ‘He has an evil spirit.’  Next came the Son of Man, eating and drinking, and you say: ‘Look, a glutton for food and wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’  But the children of Wisdom always recognize her work.”

 

Reflection gospel：

“CHILDREN OF WISDOM RECOGNIZE HER WORK.”

Commenting on this gospel reading, Brendan Byrne SJ noted that the words “Wisdom” and “children” represent God’s saving plan and Jesus and John the Baptist, respectively. Both are considered the first children of the plan of God in the sense that John prepared the way for Jesus and preached a baptism of repentance; and, that Jesus enacted the divine plan of salvation in his ministry of teaching, healing, forgiving and reconciling. They are the first product of God’s saving act.

Picking up on this understanding of being “children of Wisdom,” we share in the status of John and Jesus its children, or as the children of the reign of justice, love and mercy, in so far as we do not remain silent in the midst of abuse and exploitation of our fellow humans and indiscriminate destruction of the natural world.

We become its children when we lend a voice to the “voiceless” poor of our society and to the “voiceless” creatures of the natural world. Furthermore, we become its children when we actively promote justice, love and peace, whether individually or collectively, in our own family or in the wider community of life.