From the responsorial psalm: “O God, with your judgment endow the king, and with your justice, the king’s son; He shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 10:21-24)
Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
Jesus rejoices not in knowledge gained through human learning and experience but to what the Father reveals. To be wise and learned is to observe the ways of the world and predict outcomes but to be childlike in faith is to share in the relationship between the Father and the Son. The knowledge gained through learning and worldly wisdom is good in itself but is worth nothing compared to the knowledge Jesus is able to reveal to us because the Father has handed all things over to him. This is why Jesus rejoices and expresses gratitude in revealing this truth as he does his Father’s will. With childlike faith, God can accomplish what the wise and the learned can only hope to glimpse.
God, help me understand with humility the role of every good gift of experience and learning you give me. Certain dimensions of wisdom and knowledge simply do not come through being learned and knowledgeable. Give me the grace to be open to what Jesus offers, to what Isaiah calls “a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD.” The Gospel acclamation says, “Behold, our Lord shall come with power; he will enlighten the eyes of his servants.” Enlighten my eyes, Lord, as I strain to see what human comprehension fails to reveal. Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.