Wisdom 1:1-7 / Luke 17:1-6
The examination of conscience is a spiritual exercise in which we examine ourselves before the Lord in prayer and see how we had been in union with God and what sins we have committed.
One question that we have to honestly ask ourselves is this: How many lies am I living out today?
Yes, lies. Not just spoken lies, but also lies in actions, e.g., hypocrisy, craftiness, being cunning, being scheming, etc.
More importantly, we need to ask ourselves: How did my life get so cluttered with so many lies?
The answer, simply is that, we deceive ourselves into believing that one little lie will be alright for just this once.
But the truth is that one little lie will begin to complicate our lives. And it will multiply until our whole life becomes one big lie.
Essentially, that is what the 1st reading is saying: that Wisdom will never make its way into a crafty soul, nor stay in a body that is in debt to sin.
Yes, the Spirit of the Lord shuns a person of deceit and lies and deception.
The plain truth is this: if we can live with one sin, then we can live with many sins.
And Jesus warns us in today's gospel that an unrepentant sinner is an obstacle to others and we have to watch ourselves of the sins we commit.
So if we really desire to be truly wise, then inevitably we must be at odds with sin.
Because true wisdom, the wisdom that comes from God is at odds with sin and deceit.
It is only with divine wisdom that we can see that virtue, honesty, faithfulness and humility is truly the way of life.