Religious work on knowledge, wisdom and riches

The Gospel today in the Roman Catholic Lectionary is set in the region of Caesarea Philippi where Peter and the other disciples would be, as noted by Eric Barreto, very aware that Caesar's name and the city he built stirred within them hopes of a leader, Messiah, or in Greek “Christ”, who might fulfill the Covenant by returning the Jewish people to a Davidic ruler who would exercise the authority of God traditionally including, according to Friar Jude Winkler, the keys of life, death and precipitation. The text from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah indicates that the rulers of Jerusalem and Judah who had made poor decisions to depend on military forces, alliances with other nations and power politics instead of trusting in the the Lord would have their authority taken from them. The difficulty of understanding at least three of the attributes of God, knowledge, wisdom and riches is part of the struggle of Paul with the acceptance of Jesus by Gentiles and Paul’s deep passion to do all to bring the Jews to belief in Jesus. Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp writes of how the great theological minds of Thomas Aquinas and Paul are unable to use even the best of human intellectual ability to comprehend ultimate mystery in God. Part of this mystery lies in our wrestling with being “spiritual and not religious”. Friar Jude and Dennis Hamm, S.J. share the understanding that the Church, to which Jesus gives the ancient rabbinic authority over what is normative in our communities, is an essential component in the establishment of the Kingdom wherein God rules as the faith proclamation of Peter and Jesus response in Matthew’s Gospel offer us guidance today.