What particular gift would you ask of God if he spoke to you in a dream tonight and gave you your choice? Many would ask for badly needed health for themselves or for a family member. Others may ask for financial help just to pay off debt and keep the family comfortable. Others would wish to live for many years. But those who would ask for the gift of true wisdom to govern their earthly lives according to justice and charity may be a small percentage. Yet this is the only gift that has eternal value.

We are presented with the Book of Wisdom in the first reading of today. It is one of the last Old Testament books to be written and it gives a good reflection on final judgment, resurrection, and eternal life. The Book of Wisdom covers topics like immortality, righteousness and encourages us that God’s wisdom can be gained through a life of humility. God grants wisdom to His children who are humble and obedient. The part of the book we read today reflects on God’s mercy and how God judges with clemency and gentleness.

Isaiah in the first reading says, “my word shall not return to me void but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it”. This is a powerful demonstration of the force in the power of God to transform, revive, change, and accomplish whatever it declares. It means that God’s words are not empty words but carries with it such power that it transforms whatever it encounters. God’s words are spirit, and they are life. God’s words, in this first reading, serve as a source of great comfort in our society today where there is chaos, confusion, injustice and evil.

I had written the faith digest for the week before reading the gospel for this Sunday and behold the Lord’s invitation: “Come to me all you who labor”. This seems to confirm the urgency of the message from the cross.

The prophet Zechariah prophesied about 520 BC as a contemporary of the Prophet Haggai and they both championed the course of the Second Temple restoration. We read today, his Messianic prophesy about the coming reign of peace and liberation for the people of God. The Messiah will be a powerful, victorious yet humble king, riding in glory on a donkey. This prophecy is fulfilled in the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem which we celebrate on Palm Sunday (Mt 21:1-11; Lk 19:28-48; Mk 11:1-11; Jn 12:12-19).

Dear Friends,

Today, we address the question about the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Rosary.

The story of the Blessed Virgin Mary starts with the fall of Adam and Eve. God placed a curse on the serpent, putting enmity between it and the woman and between its seeds and her seed (Gen 3:15). The Bible and the Church hold Our Lady as the new Eve and Jesus the Seed promised here. Jesus became accursed to free us from this ancient curse (Gal 3:13). St. Paul explains Christ as the New Adam who brings life as against the old Adam who brings death (Rom 5:12-21 1 Cor 15:45-49).