Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs

Lectionary: 352

I thank the LORD and I praise him;
I bless the name of the LORD.
When I was young and innocent,
I sought wisdom openly in my prayer
I prayed for her before the temple,
and I will seek her until the end,
and she flourished as a grape soon ripe.
My heart delighted in her...

Saint Paul said of God's wisdom, 

Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory,

This wisdom begins with knowing the Lord and knowing our standing before the Lord; that is, our human dignity. Divinely revealed wisdom knows first, that we are made in God's image; and then, that we are deeply, passionately loved by God; and finally, that we have sinned against both God's love and our human dignity. 

Aware of our sins, we understand that we have brought innumerable troubles upon ourselves. Sin, according to the Bible, is everything that is wrong with the world. It includes the crimes we commit against one another, and their consequences which include sickness and death, with their "natural" and "man-made" catastrophes. As Paul said to the Romans, "Sin entered the world through a man..." 

With deepening awareness of Earth's ecosystem, we can see the consequences of our sins. Even tsunamis, earthquakes, and mudslides would not be catastrophic but for our reluctance to expect and plan for them. With our bargain-rate infrastructure, find it more economical to post an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff than a fence at the top of it. 

God's wisdom recognizes and addresses the dangers of life on a dynamic planet. In God's all-governing wisdom, that dynamism spawned life and humankind in the first place. We are perfectly suited to this planet; and were we obedient before our gracious God, Eden would not be a lost garden in central Asia. We would be more adept at living here.  

Christians speak a certain wisdom to those who are mature. But we will not find a welcome or ready reception in an ideologically polarized society. When people demand that we choose a side -- and their side -- they're not ready to hear what we say. Believing their opponents are evil, they despise human dignity; they dismiss the image of God which is so clearly manifest in their enemies. 

The Christian must love the sinner and hate the sin. We invite sinners to recognize and walk away from their sin. Clinging to evil, they can only fail; redefining evil as good only muddies the water. It confuses vulnerable youth and their fawning, gullible elders. Sometimes we have to say, "Your opinion is wrong." and, "Your feelings are misguided."   

Today's first reading from the Book of Sirach admirably fits the story of Saint Charles Lwanga. He was a young man charged with protecting younger men and boys from their Ugandan king, an opium-addicted, predatory pedophile. The king, frustrated by the saint's efforts, commanded that the whole group be burned to death. 

Neither opium nor predatory pedophilia has left the world since 1887, nor has the human sacrifice of children, infants, and the unborn. Today's gospel also attests to the folly of those among our ancient ancestors who challenged the Lord's authority to teach and heal. 

But God's wisdom remains to shepherd us. We must beg God to give us wisdom; we must seek it and study it. Nor should we expect much of the young if their elders abandon the pursuit of wisdom. 

Like Solomon in today's reading, we ask for wisdom openly in our prayer, and pray for her before the temple, and seek her until the end,