vangelo del giorno

 Wisdom is vindicated by her works

13 DECEMBER (Mt 11,16-19)

Every man is bound to be a person of sound, correct and just discernment. He is not asked by the Lord to know heavenly and divine, supernatural and eternal things. He asks him to simply to observe history and make the due differences. There is difference between heaven and earth. There is difference between seas and mountains. There is difference between light and darkness. There is difference between what one likes and what he dislikes. There is difference between love and hate. There is difference between good and evil. There is difference between truth and falsehood. There is difference between work and work. A mediocre work and an excellent work are not the same thing. There is difference between wisdom and folly, piety and impiety, true worship and idolatry.

Jesus is on our earth. He works with most pure wisdom and divine and human truth. What Solomon reveals of wisdom, people notice that it is entirely in him. Never was a man as wise as Lord Jesus, never as strong, never a giver of life, never a so wondrous miracle worker. That he is inhabited by Wisdom is visible to all. None of the things that is said of Wisdom is missing to Jesus the Lord.

For to men she is an unfailing treasure; those who gain this treasure win the friendship of God, to whom the gifts they have from discipline commend them. Now God grant I speak suitably and value these endowments at their worth: For he is the guide of Wisdom and the director of the wise. For both we and our words are in his hand, as well as all prudence and knowledge of crafts. For he gave me sound knowledge of existing things, that I might know the organization of the universe and the force of its elements, The beginning and the end and the midpoint of times, the changes in the sun’s course and the variations of the seasons. Cycles of years, positions of the stars, natures of animals, tempers of beasts, Powers of the winds and thoughts of men, uses of plants and virtues of roots – Such things as are hidden I learned and such as are plain; for Wisdom, the artificer of all, taught me. For in her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, Manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, Not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, Firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing, And pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle. For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion, and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity. For she is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nought that is sullied enters into her. For she is the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness. And she, who is one, can do all things, and renews everything while herself perduring; And passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets. For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom. For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light, she takes precedence; for that, indeed, night supplants, but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom (Wis 7,14-30).

If Jesus is the learned, wise, shrewd and intelligent man, if he is the man of the most pure truth, if all of his works are the fruit of this wisdom, it is right that the whole world recognizes, confesses and practices him. Being all the works of Jesus the fruit of his wisdom, in which he grows every day, he is extremely foolish and ignorant who does not recognize him as such. He sins against the Holy Spirit who attributes them to the devil, to Satan. He is foolish and ignorant who does not make the difference between Jesus Christ and every other man. Before difference of substance, it is a difference of works.

“To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”

If the works are different, the substance and the nature that produce them are also different. Who does not make this difference, declares himself to be blind, proves to be a person who walks in the darkness of the mind and heart. He attests simply not being a man, because a man is discernment, because he is rationality and discernment.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints help us to be men.