Today is our last reading from the Book of Sirach. In it the writer describes how his life has been the pursuit of wisdom. Wisdom is not just knowledge. Wisdom involves a deep insight into the meaning and purpose of life and knowing the true relationship between things. "I am determined to put her into practise," says the writer. "I have earnestly pursued what is good." Wisdom has to be worked for. It comes through prayer, through a constant effort to understand every experience in life, through freeing ourselves from everything which threatens our wholeness and integrity as persons, and through various forms of enlightenment and a deep desire that she be part of our being. Above all, it is found in our assimilating the message of the Gospel into our life. There is the key to wisdom. With Bartimaeus, whom we saw in Thursday's reading, let our prayer be: "Lord, that I may see." Wisdom consists in being able to see and seeing with great clarity. Without it, we grope in the darkness.