St. Martin of Tours, bishop 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Wisdom of Solomon 7:22b – 8:1

In her is a spirit that is intelligent,

Saintly, unique, manifold, sub­tle, active, concise, pure and lu­cid. It cannot corrupt, loves what is good and nothing can restrain it;  it is beneficent, loving humankind, stead­fast, dependable, calm though almighty. It sees everything and pe­netrates all spirits, however intel­ligent, subtle and pure they may be.

 Wisdom, in fact, surpasses in mo­bility all that moves, and being so pure pervades and permeates all things. She is a breath of the power of God, a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; nothing impure can enter her. She is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of God’s action and an image of his goodness.

 She is but one, yet Wisdom can do all things and, herself unchanging, she renews all things. She enters holy souls, making them prophets and friends of God, for God loves only those who live with Wisdom.

 She is indeed more beautiful than the sun and surpasses all the constellations; she outrivals light, for light gives way to night, but evil cannot prevail against Wisdom.   Wisdom displays her strength from one end of the earth to the other, ordering all things rightly.

 

Ps 119:89, 90, 130, 135, 175

Your word is forever, O Lord.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

Luke 17:20-25

 The Pharisees asked Jesus when the king­­­­dom of God was to come. He answered, “The kingdom of God is not like something you can observe   and say of it: ‘Look, here it is! There it is!’ See, the kingdom of God is among you.”

 And Jesus said to his disciples, “The time is at hand when you will long to see one of the glorious days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.   Then people will tell you: ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go, do not follow them.  

 As lightning flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so will it be with the Son of Man.  But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

  

 Gospel Reflection：

 The Pharisees are anxious to know when the Kingdom will come? Jesus gives them, and consequently us readers, an important lesson in today's gospel. The Kingdom that will start unpredictably “outside” may actually commence right now “inside” us.

The last day starts its configuration right now, within ourselves. If we want to be allowed into the Kingdom on that last day, we must let the kingdom get inside us, right now. So, we must not only prepare the outside, but more so our inner selves as well.

This is where the spiritual life takes center stage. For our outward action may not necessarily connect with a pure and clean heart and mind. It may come from hypocrisy. But if our inside is cleansed by our loving relationship with God, then what flows as action in the outside world flows from our authentic inner center.