32nd Week, Wednesday, November 15
Wisdom 6:1-11 / Luke 17:11-19
Desire God's word; Seek God's wisdom.
A blind leper heard about Braille and asked to learn it. One of his dreams was to read the Bible again. But then the leper made a tragic discovery. His disease had made his fingers too insensitive to feel the raised letters of Braille. It was a crushing blow. He was on the verge of despair. Then the leper realized that there was one part of his body that was still sensitive enough to be able to feel the letters. It was his tongue. And that is how he reads the Bible today.***
How eagerly do we read or listen to God's word in Scripture? “Here is a book, the Bible, worth more than all others that were ever printed; yet it is my misfortune never to have found time to read it.” Patrick Henry, Near-death
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The Jewish kings were God’s representatives to the people by virtue of their anointing. Now comes the author of the book of Wisdom and says that also pagan rulers have received their authority from God. They must exercise it wisely for doing good, in accordance with God’s law, because they have to give an account to God.
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"Thank you" maybe just two words, but it is easy to forget to say them and at times even difficult to say them. We can forget to say them when we don't appreciate the good deeds that people do for us, or we may just take them for granted. We can forget to say "thank you" when people give way to us when we are going in or coming out of the MRT, or when others give way to us on the road.
And we might find it difficult to be thankful, especially to God, when we are going through a rough time and we feel that He isn't helping us or answering our prayers. But with whatever little faith that we have, we must believe that God only wants the best for us, and when we pray, we also must believe that God is listening and that He knows what we want.
If we can thank God even if our prayers are not answered according to the way we want it, then we can be sure that our faith in God has deepened, and that we can trust Him enough to say that He knows what He is doing and that He knows what He is going to do.
Thankfulness and gratitude are the expressions of our faith. May we do our best in thanking God and believe that He only wants to do the best for us.
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In the account of the cure of the ten lepers, Luke stresses the contrast between the nine Jews who, after their cure, go to comply with the rules of the law, but forget about gratitude and the Samaritan who returns to thank Jesus. We too, often forget to be grateful for gifts received. Maybe it is a bit humiliating to be reminded of our dependence on others... Let us not forget that God’s love comes to us usually through people who care and help. For all the good done to us, particularly through Jesus Christ, we give thanks in this Eucharist, this thanksgiving.
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Prayer
Lord God, from you comes all we are and have; we owe you above all forgiveness and life through your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray you today for grateful hearts. Make us thankful for the right things, not merely for being lucky in life nor for the happiness of the self-satisfied but for the joy that in him even suffering and death have meaning. Accept all our thanks through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
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Saint Albert the Great
November 15
Albert the Great was a 13th-century German Dominican who decisively influenced the Church’s stance toward Aristotelian philosophy brought to Europe by the spread of Islam.
Students of philosophy know him as the master of Thomas Aquinas. Albert’s attempt to understand Aristotle’s writings established the climate in which Thomas Aquinas developed his synthesis of Greek wisdom and Christian theology. But Albert deserves recognition on his own merits as a curious, honest, and diligent scholar.
He was the eldest son of a powerful and wealthy German lord of military rank. He was educated in the liberal arts. Despite fierce family opposition, he entered the Dominican novitiate.
His boundless interests prompted him to write a compendium of all knowledge: natural science, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, ethics, economics, politics, and metaphysics. His explanation of learning took 20 years to complete. “Our intention,” he said, “is to make all the aforesaid parts of knowledge intelligible to the Latins.”
He achieved his goal while serving as an educator at Paris and Cologne, as Dominican provincial, and even as bishop of Regensburg for a short time. He defended the mendicant orders and preached the Crusade in Germany and Bohemia.
Albert, a Doctor of the Church, is the patron of scientists and philosophers.
