Memorial of Saint Polycarp, bishop and martyr

Today's Mass Readings

Today we begin our Seventh Week of Ordinary Time, but it will be interrupted on Wednesday when the season of Lent begins. Monday and Tuesday, however, provide us with beautiful readings from the book of Sirach in the Old Testament. Wisdom is often thought of as having an elusive quality, and that is perhaps why Sirach turns to poetic language to describe wisdom. Our Christian tradition, however, adds another dimension to our understanding of wisdom. When this Old Testament book is read through the lens of the New Testament, this passage can be understood Christologically. In other words, many Christians through the years have regarded Christ to be wisdom personified or, at least, the one through whom all wisdom comes. For Christians, wisdom is inextricably linked to this person of Christ. In the gospel story we witness the wisdom of Christ. In this passage from Mark there is the account of a possessed boy, an interceding, desperate father, and the unsuccessful disciples. The closing line of this story kind of echoes beyond the story itself: “This kind can only come out through prayer” (Mk. 9:29). Could it be that the disciples failed because they did not pray? Prayer, like wisdom, also sometimes seems to have an elusive quality. The prayer of the boy’s father is a great example of this: “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24) Sometimes we doubt that prayer does anything or we feel that our words are inadequate. We want to believe but find it hard to do so.

In these cases, we might adopt the prayer of this boy’s father. This, in fact, is the beginning of true wisdom; the boy’s father acknowledges that he believes in Jesus, but that he doesn’t believe as well as he could. In order to have wisdom, we must get wisdom from the fountain of all wisdom, the one through whom all things are possible.

It is not when we live perfect lives that we have found wisdom. No, rather, it is when we know that we cannot find wisdom on our own and look to Christ for wisdom that we will find wisdom. This is precisely what today’s saint, St. Polycarp did. This bishop and martyr was reputed to have been a student of St. John the apostle. In a letter, Polycarp said that he had served Christ 86 years of his life, and yet, when we look back at his life, we recognize that his wisdom came not from old age, but from belief in Christ. At a time when Christianity was still the religion of the minority, Polycarp stood fast to the Christian faith.

Let us pray that we, like Polycarp, will share in the wisdom of Christ. If so, we will know the importance of prayer, just as the disciples learned in today’s passage from Mark. Let us pray that God grant us an ever greater appreciation of both wisdom and prayer, that we may seek to grow closer to God.

- Maria Morrow