In the Bible the word "wisdom" has a slightly different emphasis from the way it is used in other contexts. It is primarily practical, directed towards action. It guided the Jewish people in their efforts to live in accordance with the demands of their covenant with God. The Book of Wisdom from which today's first reading is taken was written about one hundred years before the birth of Christ. The writer was encouraging his fellow Jews to remain patient in their difficulties. He was also endeavouring to show them how it was possible to be faithful to their religion in an alien culture. One could say that he was trying to help them to establish a mini Kingdom of God even as they tried to be loyal citizens and good neighbours in a society which could have corroded their beliefs.

In the Gospel Jesus tells the Pharisees to whom he is speaking that they did not have to wait to see the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Here, as elsewhere in the Gospels Jesus is telling all those who are open to his words that the Kingdom has already come in his works of healing and in his preaching.

Elsewhere in the Gospels we find clear statements that in some verifiable way final membership of the Kingdom will be declared. Such a declaration is made under the title or name of the Last Judgement. In the meantime Jesus tells us that the important thing is to be on our toes, ready to meet the King when he comes into our lives in a personal, individual and definitive way. And so we pray the 'Our Father'.