In the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time, the first readings shift to meditations from the Book of Sirach on wisdom and on the mysterious Wisdom that is God, spoken in gentle but firm parlance of a parent passing on advice to a child, especially one going through transitions in growth or into adulthood. In the Gospel, Jesus reveals to his friends and the crowds about what it means to be fully human, which is to embrace the joy of emptying oneself of the pretenses of status caused by well-meaning but distracting ambition.

Wait. Trust me. Be aware of everything going on around you, even the unpleasant feelings and sensations. These can be difficult words to hear, especially when we are impatient and want to fix something. God encourages us to trust that we possess the fortitude to redirect our perceptions and our actions when we are unsure of what to do next. Perhaps he is asking us not to fix something or someone else, but to reflect on what in us needs to change.

Here are the readings for Tuesday, February 25 from the Book of Sirach and from the Gospel of Mark.

(Painting above of “Christ and the Children” by Emil Node)

Read page 16 the Xaverian Charism Project of the Xaverian Brothers.

Read the biography of Br. James Boyle, CFX.

(Above photo of Brother James Boyle, CFX-Xaverian Brothers)

As you read the Xaverian Charism Project, reflect on how the terms dispositions, modes of presence, and reorientation fit into the messages from the Book of Sirach and in Jesus’ pleas to his friends in the Gospel of Mark. How are these three terms connected? Are we being called to something new, or to be what we always have been?