Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
The Lord Jesus give you his peace.
We have our Lord giving us the interior, exterior dimension
and to avoid the exterior trappings of spiritual life that are essentially vanities
and to go straight for the marrow.
And the marrow, we could say, are these thoughts that can defile from within the heart of man,
which are legion and St. John Climacus describes it as like an abyss.
But to take every thought captive for Christ,
is the interior battle that our Lord calls us to.
It seems to be a battle that King Solomon on one level in the first reading has achieved,
but we know that in historical how things panned out for him,
that it was not done by any means.
Because although given a great, great gift, the greatest of gifts and the gift of wisdom,
still there was a battle to be fought, which in many senses he failed at.
And so we have the first reading from first Kings 10, the Queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon
and the house which he built, the provisions of Solomon, the sitting of his attendants,
the standing of his servants, all this great stuff.
William Barclay has a good take.
I think he's citing a primary source, historical source that when the Queen of Sheba approached
and the sea of glass in the temple, she thought because of its great likeness to real water,
she thought it was water.
She began to.
Pull up her stocking, the way to cross about just kind of to get the sense of the magnificence
of with which Solomon was surrounded.
A true report, which I heard in my land of your words and your wisdom.
Blessed are your wives.
Blessed are these servants who stand before you continually, who hear all your wisdom.
She was utterly amazed.
Now, the thing, one thing that is in this account, the first Kings 10,
is that the word used in the Greek isn't truly wisdom.
It's not one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
It's phronesis.
Which is akin to wisdom.
In fact, wisdom is said to give birth to this, but it's not quite the same thing.
So we kind of take a look in sacred scripture.
First, that's Solomon's resume from first Kings for the Lord gave understanding to Solomon.
That's the same word that we're looking at in first Kings 10 and very much wisdom.
That's the Sophia, which you might think of.
Had you a Sophia, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit, large men of heart as the sand
on the seashore.
Now, this is one thing we should keep in mind that, and we'll see later that in one sense,
this is something that's infused.
It's also something that we can acquire.
But because it's as the sand on the seashore, don't forget apocalypse 12.
This is precisely where the devil stations himself on the sands of this, the shore of the sea.
And so this is, we can say the frontier of the battle and Solomon abounded greatly beyond the wisdom of all the
ages.
And since that's the word that we're looking at, again, not the Sophia, but phronesis and all these proverbs of not only that, but a lot like Aristotle surpassing Aristotle, even things of nature.
And that's perhaps how the queen of Sheba approached Solomon at that level.
And then it says that she spoke to him all the words of her heart, which is very good spiritual counsel for us in prayer to make sure that there's not.
And that includes temptation.
St.
Maximilian, many of the church fathers before him talk about revealing temptations, even if it might not be a sin, but revealing them in the confession to one superior in interior prayer.
Speak very, very transparently at these levels so that they become diffused.
Otherwise they can grow.
Okay.
So one sense, this is infused Solomon increased beyond all the kings of the earth and wisdom, wealth, and.
And this wisdom, the phronesis, the Lord put into his heart infused.
However, we hear also in Proverbs seven on how we can acquire this similar understanding.
My son, keep my words, hide with you my commandments, honor the Lord, and you shall be strong.
Fear none but him.
Keep my commandments and you shall live.
Bind these commandments on your fingers, write them on the table of your heart.
And so this is our part.
That we immerse ourselves in sacred scripture, in the Proverbs, in the wisdom literature, in these things, in the gospels that can truly inform our heart and give us the great wherewithal to uncover the snares of the enemy from within, from within.
Remember the gospel.
Okay.
So this is a one look at the, at least the word.
But we also come.
Across the fact that, you know, the Lord says that the queen of Sheba will stand up in judgment against the cities of Tyre and Sidon, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
Many people, of course, you have scripture right in your home.
You don't open it.
Why don't you?
Right in front of you, you've got wisdom.
And so it's a no brainer, so to speak, to consult the scriptures every day.
This is something that we should actively take up the teachings of the church.
Many people will accuse the church, a lot like our separated brethren, of many things with the church doesn't even hold, or we'll try to be scandalized over a teaching of the church, for example, same sex marriages, without even trying to understand the issue.
Open up the catechism.
Understand the wisdom of the church.
And this is something that is just within an arm's reach, even if it's the computer.
Look it up.
So these things, the queen of.
But we'll stand in judgment if we don't do this.
And it's a necessary exercise.
We have a grave responsibility to seek truth.
She came to try him with riddles.
That's the enigma.
It's kind of the Greek.
So she kind of pulled up her best knock knock jokes, you know, and kind of all kinds of.
He didn't fall for any of it.
And but she was utterly amazed at because she was coming at him from the natural level.
And he brought her into the deeper.
The level of the divine things.
And that's that's our call as well.
And unraveling really the confusion of the world.
We have been consecrated to Our Lady in one sense.
Our Lady, we can say, is analogous to the uncreated wisdom.
She is the created wisdom.
The catechism describes her as the seed of wisdom.
And in one sense, this created wisdom is like a refugence.
Of the breath of the most high.
This is Sirach one.
He created her in the Holy Spirit and saw her and numbered her and measured her.
And he poured her out upon all his works and upon all flesh according to his gift and is given her to them that love him.
And that in perhaps even more than accommodated sense, we can reply to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she has been poured forth upon all his works in the new creation.
And.
One thing that we can reflect on is with her fiats, and that's important because it's that fiat, which we will imbibe the uncreated wisdom in full measure if we stand at the foot of the cross.
And that's the wisdom that will confound Satan.
That any trial that comes into our lives, there's nothing that can separate us from the love of Jesus when we give our yes, when we give our yes, it's a great power.
It's given.
Over to the human will, which is the very power of God within the human heart that will crush the head of Satan.
And that's no small gift.
And that's the gift of the immaculate.
It's yes.
And the human heart standing at the foot of the cross and a power that swallows up death.
Last point would be this.
St.
Bernard will tell us a practical thesis and how we can dispose ourselves to receive the gift of wisdom.
In addition to enduring sufferings, he talks about justice.
Just like.
We heard in the psalm, the just man murmurs wisdom, justice towards one's superiors, justice towards one's inferiors, justice towards one's peers, good examination of conscience and how we can to be a seat of wisdom.
Yes,
yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Book of siè vintage of see.
No.
No.
I.
No.
No.
All right.
.
.
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