I prayed, and prudence was given me;
I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.
I preferred her to scepter and throne,
and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her,
nor did I liken any priceless gem to her;
because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand,
and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.
Beyond health and comeliness I loved her,
and I chose to have her rather than the light,
because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.
Yet all good things together came to me in her company,
and countless riches at her hands.
Wisdom 7:7-11
Asking for wisdom is always in my prayers. I like to think that this prayer is being answered gradually. I am quite sure that it has not been accompanied by countless riches but it does seem to be accompanied by some peace of mind.
But countless riches seem to be the road block to the Kingdom in the Gospel from Mark (10:17-30), the story of the rich man who wants eternal life. Jesus challenges the man to give his possessions to the poor and come along with him, but the man walks away, unable to give up what he owns. Such a universal problem! What we own gives
us a sense of control over our lives. It may give us a sense of accomplishment. It gives us the ability to feel generous without incurring sacrifice.
Peter reminds Jesus that “we have given up everything and followed you.” Everything was a lot. We know that Peter was married and that his mother-in-law lived with them. The gospels don’t mention his children but it wouldn’t be far-fetched to assume he had a few. I’ve often wondered what his family thought of his decision. I doubt very
much his wife took up fishing. Perhaps her or his extended family looked after them. I doubt she was very happy about it. Perhaps she was angry at God as well as Peter. But perhaps wisdom led her to surrender to the will of God and gave her some peace.
I mentioned last week tha Pope Francis is attempting to reform of the Church’s power structure (America on the Synodal Church). As I understand it, the Pope wants to create a bottom-up process of issue discussion that would inform his decisions but then feed back down and up in a continual flow. The Opening Mass of Pope Francis’
Synodal Process is 5:30pm, Oct 17, at St. James Cathedral. Y’all come! (Or you can watch the livestream on Vimeo or Facebook @archdioceseofseattle.)
If you would like to help St. Therese express God’s love, please look at the list of ministries and talents that are on page 6 of the Bulletin. If you have questions, please ask Diane at paa@st-therese.cc or Nicole at nicoles@sttherese.cc. Please let Diane know how you would like to support your parish with your time and talents.
Donations to the Tiny House Project and to St. Vincent de Paul can be made from the home page of st-therese.cc.
Ministry Opportunities Do you have expertise with
online marketing? The Stewardship Commission is looking to put together a digital outreach team and could need your help! If you can serve, please contact John Russell at jvrussell85@gmail.com.
To help run our
livestream equipment, contact Nicole at nicoles@st-therese.cc. The livestream is not a nice to-do. It’s a must-do and Nicole needs your help!
Parish Collections July 1, 2021 – September 30, 2021.…....$90,608
The budget….…. $94,838
Last year at this time….…. $89,103