Seeking Wisdom

The 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Readings: Prv 9: 1-6; Ps 34; Eph 5: 15-20; Jn 6: 51-58

Our Scripture readings today speak about wisdom. Maybe it sounds obvious at first blush, but Paul reminds us that we should live wisely; we mustn’t be ignorant but instead try to understand God’s will and apply it in our lives. Wisdom isn’t some kind of mysterious or obscure knowledge that is dropped in our lap or spoon-fed into our brain. Rather, it’s meant to be a practical way of living that comes from following the Lord.

That’s what Proverbs means by saying that Wisdom has built her house, spread her table and invited us to come in and partake of her offerings. In other words, if you want to be wise, come check out what God would like to show you.

It’s very important to remember that God wants us to use the gifts he’s given us—things like thinking, reasoning, mental deliberation, and our conscience. We’re not supposed to park our brains outside the church door and blindly accept everything we hear, much the way a computer could be indiscriminately loaded up with data. That’s not human, and it’s really not entirely wise.

No, if we’re seeking a way to live well, to live wisely, then we’ve got to take the Lord’s teachings, make them our own, and weave them into the fabric of our life. Wisdom is not a Sunday-only thing; it’s for every day of the year.

As human beings, we are made up of body, mind and spirit. We have hospitals and health clubs to help us take care of our bodies. We have schools and libraries to enrich our minds. We have the Church and the Scriptures to support our spirits. And it’s vital that all three of these areas within us continue to grow and develop and flourish.

Think about it: no one would honestly suggest that the level of medical care or scientific knowledge or education of Jesus’ day would be acceptable to us today! Yet some folks think that the level of spiritual development that was good enough then should still be good enough now. In fact, in 2,000 years of Christianity, there has been tremendous development of our understanding of God’s truths, our wisdom.

Remember that Jesus left earth for good on Ascension Day. He sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to help us and guide us, but for the most part his first followers had to figure out all the details on their own. Read the Acts of the Apostles and the history of the Church, and you’ll see the amazing deliberative process involved in working things out: did believers have to become Jews first, then Christians? Did they have to be circumcised? Did they have to follow the old dietary laws? How could Jesus be fully God and still fully a man? How could Mary be a virgin and still give birth to a baby? How can bread become flesh but still look and taste and smell like plain bread? How could women or slaves or lepers be equal children of God rather than second-class citizens? And millions of other tough moral and doctrinal issues that have come up over the centuries…

No question that the Church, after this long process of development, possesses much wisdom… and in fact, continues to grow in wisdom. But how do we, as individual believers, import this wisdom into our lives in a meaningful way… a way that lets us not just know “religious facts” but a way that lets us make this wisdom our own so we can live by it? The answer, to a large extent, is just the same way the Church got it: we’ve got to ask questions, challenge ideas that disturb us, reflect on our lived experiences, study what others have to say, and struggle to understand—all within the framework of our faith. This is a life-long process. It doesn’t end with 8th grade CCD.

The official Catechism of the Catholic Church—that thick book published by the Vatican in 1992—contains just short of 2,900 numbered topics representing a breathtaking contemporary overview of the Church’s wisdom. Will every Catholic be able to accept every single point unquestioningly? Now that would be a miracle! If I have trouble with 5 topics, or 17 topics, or even 43 topics, does that mean I’m going to hell? Well, I don’t think our Lord works that way… do you?

Let me repeat: coming to understanding and acceptance and belief and wisdom is the work of a lifetime. Our job is to ask, to seek, and to knock. Having a question or a difficulty doesn’t make us a heretic or a bad Catholic. On the contrary, it pleases God that we find it important enough to think about living in a way that tries to honor and please him.

Just to clarify, I am not suggesting that you become what some people call a “cafeteria Catholic” where you pick and choose which teachings of the Church you like and reject the rest. To do that is to make up your own religion! That kind of approach is usually based just on feelings with little to back them up except personal preference.

No, I’m speaking about a process that requires more effort and commitment on your part. It means studying the Bible—especially Jesus’ own words in the gospels—and trying to figure out what Christ is really saying. It means reading what popes and theologians and spiritual writers have to say on the subject, because they’re often very good at that. It also means comparing your own experiences with what you’ve read so you can see what matches and what doesn’t match and why that is. If you’ve lived through something, your viewpoint may be quite different from someone who doesn’t have the same investment as you. That’s an important piece.

And while you’re in this questioning mode, please be patient and charitable to people who may not be at the same stage of the spiritual journey as you are. Always remember that love is God’s most important commandment.

It is OK to take your beliefs apart and look at them long and hard. God’s not afraid of you doing that. That’s how you find personal value in them… so you can pack them back into your spiritual toolbox that helps you face life.

Then if somebody asks you about a belief you hold, you can honestly say that thanks to the grace of God, you have come to believe it… you have made it your own… and you live by it.

And that, my friends, is Wisdom.