What was the wisdom which Our Lord, the greater than Solomon, came to impart and which the people of his generation rejected?  What are the principles on which he bids individuals frame their lives?  What are the ideals he sets before them to aim at and strive to attain?

They are these: rejection of all worldly and material standards; self-forgetfulness; the complete ascendancy and supremacy of God in one’s own life at home, at work, at recreation and in one’s most secret thoughts; an active kindness towards all in obedience to Our Lord’s commands; and a hunger and thirst after righteousness expressed in a constant striving after perfection by striving after Him who is perfect.

Such an ideal, which provides so compelling an attraction for the faithful soul would for many people be a severe punishment.  And the same is true of repentance, of the complete identification of oneself with the attitude of the all-holy God towards one’s sins of thought, word and deed.  And the end of it all, which Our Blessed Lord holds out, is the complete and living union of the whole soul with the living God in utter dependence on him – and that is eternal life.