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The word of God presents wisdom as one of the greatest gifts we can receive from the Lord. Scriptural wisdom is knowing God and God's plan for us - very practical wisdom indeed!

Have you ever had a difficult time praying? Maybe I'm the only one...but I really don't think so! The fact is, anyone who is committed to spending time in prayer on a daily basis has experienced some difficulty in consistently praying well. Even some great saints have confessed that prayer didn't always come easily.

A friend named Charles, a spiritual writer and teacher, tells this story on himself. He says that in prayer one day he felt the Lord say to him, “Charles, humble yourself.” Charles tried to protest, “But Lord, I’m humble.” Then the Lord said rather insistently, “Charles, either you humble yourself, or I will have to humble you!” Charles says he thought about it for a moment and then responded, “Lord, having seen what a thorough job you do in these situations, I think I would rather humble myself.” Wise decision and a good lesson! And that’s what our liturgy teaches us today.

Salvation is offered to everyone. But how many will, in fact, be saved? That question has been asked for over 2000 years and is still being asked today. Although salvation is freely offered to all, it would not seem, to external appearances at least, that very many take advantage of the offer. Our readings today discuss this crucial topic.

In school I once had a demanding teacher whose favorite expression was, “Life is tough!” Those of us in his class would readily confirm that, especially when we took his tests! That expression was certainly true for the prophet Jeremiah. And for the Lord Jesus also, as he took on our human condition, including suffering death on a cross! The word of God speaks to us today about dealing with suffering, struggle, and division.

In 1986 Robert Fulghum wrote a book called All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. It included topics like sharing with others, waiting your turn, being kind, cleaning up after yourself, and other very basic rules of life. I was thinking about this recently when reading the Book of Genesis. It seems to me that we can glean so many simple – but extremely important – lessons from the earliest chapters in the Bible. It's almost like, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Genesis.” These are probably some of the first things we learned in religion classes in kindergarten or grammar school. I would like to share some of them here.

The Lord says through Isaiah (slightly paraphrased): “When the time is right, I will act with speed” (Is. 60:22). The Israelites in Egypt waited 400 years for deliverance. To test our faith, God has a way of making us wait a while to see his promises fulfilled. Our readings today challenge and encourage us not to lose faith because, in God’s good time, he will acts swiftly and suddenly. It is important, then, to keep faith that we might be found on the “right side” when God’s time for judgment comes.