13.10.24 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time | Year B | Rev. Fr. J Maria Antony's Homilies | S-Word of God

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time PATH OF WISDOM Theme: A person of wisdom has an integrated and wholistic approach towards life. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wisdom and the ‘other side’: Once a young man asked a sage, “Now a days I hear so much about wisdom. Can you please tell me what exactly wisdom is?” The sage thought for a moment and answered, “Wisdom is nothing but your ability to see the ‘other side.’” The youth did not seem to understand what the sage said. He enquired, “Can you please clarify?” The sage answered, “Let me give you an example. Many people pursue wealth relentlessly thinking that it would make them happy – that it would help them to buy the things which they like, and to have a comfortable life. It is indeed true that wealth helps them to make their lives a little more comfortable. However this is just one side of reality. The other side is that wealth brings its own bane in the long run. It brings a sense of insecurity and fear into the life of a person. It also makes a person feel proud and arrogant. People who have wealth as the centre of their lives tend to relegate a lower position to relationship, love and meaningfulness of life, which are very subtle, yet more important aspects of life. Since many people don’t see the ‘other side’ of wealth, they, in the name of pursuing wealth, ruin their lives in the long run. Another example! Apparently speaking, suffering is hard and hurting. But the other side of suffering is that it helps us to reduce our pride and egoistic way of living, and thus helps us to be more relational. So it helps us to move towards our happiness. A jnani (wise man) is the one who is able to see the ‘other side’ of wealth and thus keeps a distance from it, and the ‘other side’ of suffering and develops a positive attitude towards it.” Finally the sage concluded, “Blessed are those who have the ability to look at both sides of everything they come across in their lives.” Normally, we, human beings, tend to have one-sided perception of everything. That is what our knowledge is capable of! This partial perception of reality leads to unwholesome attitude which, in turn, is responsible for a type of action that is partial, limited and incomplete. Ultimately it leads to a type of happiness that is partial and incomplete. This is precisely what we see in the gospel today. For the full homily, please click the following link: https://sites.google.com/view/swordof... Daily reflections in Tamil by Rev. Fr. J. Maria Antony (Sivagangai):    / @usermano110