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b'(Wis.9:13-18b;\\xa0\\xa0 Ps.90:1,3-6,12-14,17;\\xa0\\xa0 Phlm.1:9-10,12-17;\\xa0\\xa0 Lk.14:25-33) \\u201cWhoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.\\u201d The wisdom of the cross, that blessed necessity for every Christian\\u2019s life.\\xa0 What does it teach us?\\xa0 How does it call us to act?\\xa0 Its wisdom is not of this earth, for the \\u201ccorruptible body burdens the soul,\\u201d but the counsel of the \\u201cHoly Spirit from on high\\u201d brings the freedom to be sons of God.\\xa0 This wisdom can only be found by knowing we are but dust and renouncing all things of dust to serve the living and true God. \\u201cWho can know God\\u2019s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends?\\u201d our first reading from the Book of Wisdom inquires of us.\\xa0 Indeed, things before our eyes, things of this earth, \\u201cwe find with difficulty,\\u201d so who can understand things of heaven?\\xa0 How shall we attain the vision of God, of whom our psalm states, \\u201cA thousand years in your sight, are as yesterday, now that it is passed, or as a watch in the night\\u201d?\\xa0 How can we who wilt and fade \\u201clike the changing grass\\u201d come to the surpassing knowledge our Lord possesses? Jesus answers the question.\\xa0 He turns to the crowds who follow Him, who are excited by His presence but unaware of the demands made upon every Christian\\u2019s life, and He teaches them this wisdom that is of God.\\xa0 It is His essential lesson: Be prepared to give up all things for the sake of the kingdom.\\xa0 Put nothing before your worship of God.\\xa0 Renounce all your possessions and be ready to die for Him \\u2013 only then can you approach the glory He brings to this earth.\\xa0 Only by the wisdom of His cross will you find the kingdom of God.\\xa0 For indeed \\u201cthe earthen shelter\\u201d and all its concerns weigh down the mind, weigh down the spirit, and keep it from attaining to God; they must therefore be left behind to find the freedom of sons of the Most High. The Lord comes to \\u201cteach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.\\u201d\\xa0 It is this teaching Paul seeks to impart to Philemon as he asks him to forgive the slave that has wronged him and accept him back \\u201cforever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother.\\u201d\\xa0 This same forgiveness, which is divine not earthly, is that which is asked of us all by the Lord.\\xa0 For so we have been forgiven by Him, so we who were sinful slaves have been made his brother\\u2026 and so we must do the same for others.\\xa0 It is no longer the mind of man by which we judge but the mind of God, and the grace of this wisdom we gain only by carrying our cross.\\xa0 It is this which shapes us in His image, which imparts to us His wisdom \\u2013 and by this the work of our hands shall prosper. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Open Air" from Thoroughfare, seventh album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, help us to renounce all our possessions that we might know your counsel and follow your Son. YHWH, send your Holy Spirit from on high that our paths might be made straight, that we might walk the way of the Cross and so find the grace we need to be disciples of Jesus and so enter your presence.\\xa0 Without such kindness toward us, we shall be lost, distracted by the vain things of this dying earth. We are but dust, dear LORD, passing like the changing grass, and our hearts are often set on the passing things around us.\\xa0 Teach us to renounce our possessions, help us to know it is in this true freedom lies\\u2026 that walking the way of worldly concerns will lead us only to death but laying down our lives with your Son we shall come to glory.\\xa0 Let us not be so foolish as to think we shall be blessed otherwise. Freely let us offer all we have to you, LORD; then you shall indeed prosper the work of our hands.\\xa0 And we shall go from being slaves of the flesh to dwelling as your beloved in the age that does not pass away.'