Wednesday 7 February

MEMORIAL OF ST. PAUL MIKI
AND COMPANIONS

1 Kings 10:1-10; Psalm 37; Mark 7:14-23

Wealth and wisdom undone

In our first reading, God gave Solomon great wisdom, and with that wisdom, great wealth. The Queen of Sheba was just one of many who was enthralled and bedazzled by Solomon’s wealth and wisdom. But our gospel reading reminds us how easily wealth can corrupt the human heart, and how wisdom is distorted by vanity. When the heart is thus corrupted by wealth and wisdom distorted by vanity, every kind of evil intention is born and emerges from it. Such contagion makes a person unclean in the sight of God.

There is a moral here for those who listen today and reflect.