Shown Great Favor

February 4, 2012

Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

"Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?" 1 Kings 3:9

When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. Mark 6:34

Piety

Father, give us the purity of heart that Solomon showed as he approached you in all humility. Grant us abundant quantities of the gift of understanding so that we may not only know what you want of us but also that we have the fortitude to carry out that mission daily.

Study

How does your thirst for knowledge compare to the request of Solomon and the vast crowds who followed Jesus? They sought to learn from him even though the quest would create problems such as where they would get enough food to eat.

Solomon and the crowds set aside these basic needs and greeds. Instead wanted to increase their understanding of God's ways. In the end, they received both…what they sought and requested as well as that which they did not seek nor request.

Action

Study: Knowledge of what is happening around us is and how to react to those events is a critical leg of the Cursillo tripod. We must not only know ourselves, but also know God and study our environment. However, even then, knowledge alone is not the answer. The gifts of the Holy Spirit include understanding. Yet without additional commitments to growth in piety and action, all the knowledge in the world will do us little good.

Solomon sought understanding, not just knowledge for knowledge's sake. Understanding includes discernment of God's will and then committing to act upon it.