TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s first reading (Wis 2:1a, 12-22) gives us a striking prophecy of the ultimate and perfect “just one,” Jesus Christ. It begins with these troubling words:

“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.” (v. 12)

“The reasoning of the ungodly has progressed from a reflection of the finality of death, to an embrace of hedonism, to a rejection of the weak, and now finally to active persecution of the righteous man precisely because of his righteousness. He is inconvenient because he opposes, reproaches, and accuses the wayward for their sins. While the author is not drawing a direct line of connection, one cannot avoid thinking of the biblical prophets here. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets consistently rebuke the nation for their disobedience to God’s law and their straying from his ways. Here, Wisdom highlights two types of moral error: ‘sins against the law’ and ‘sins against our training,’ which perfectly match the priorities of Hellenistic Judaism. On the one hand, ‘sins against the law’ refers to transgressions of the law of Moses, the ancient ancestral law of the Jews. On the other hand, ‘sins against out training [paideia]’ refers to rejecting the lessons learned in the context of family and, more precisely, Greek education. The erring ones have strayed from both the Jewish ideal of law observance and from the Greek educational idea of paideia.” (Wisdom of Solomon [Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture], 45)

“Their words are echoed in the insults offered by the scribes and Pharisees to Jesus when he was on the cross (cf. Mt 27:40-43; Mk 15:31-32; Lk 23:35-37). (The Navarre Bible: Wisdom Books , 312)

I immediately think how Jesus is found so “obnoxious” to so many today (even self-proclaimed Christians, including Catholics — some in very high positions in society). The Word of God, who is Jesus, is ignored, spurned, or even deemed “hate speech” when it (He) goes against the “enlightened” “progress” we have purportedly made now well into the twenty-first century. And Scripture says:

“[I]f the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.” (Mt 6:23)

The devil is the black light. We surely can know that when a culture of death predominates and every manner of perversion is hailed as good and proper and normal that the prince of this world is delighting in his influence over weak and stupid mortals.

Let us all work to exorcise Satan and his minions by standing up for the Truth no matter the cost and, above all, praying to Jesus through Mary for deliverance from this pervasive and growing evil. We were promised by the Lord from the very beginning of their ultimate triumph:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel.” (Gen 3:15)

May it occur soon. Thy kingdom come!

NEW BOOK IN THE CATHOLIC COMMENTARY ON SACRED SCRIPTURE SERIES!

I’m excited to quote above from the first entry in the Old Testament series from the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series. Check it out!

God bless.