Wisdom

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 17 (16):6, 8 To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.

Collect Almighty ever‑living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Ephesians 4:1-6; Psalm 23; Luke 12:54-59

Jesus said to the crowd: When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time? Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. (Luke 12:54-59)

Wisdom I remember attending a conference of philosophers, and a leading philosopher of Australia — an atheist — was in debate with a leading philosopher from Scotland, a practising Catholic. The Scottish philosopher proposed that philosophy ought above all involve the search for and love of wisdom. The Australian philosopher disputed this. He said that his own wife was a very wise person indeed, but hardly a professional philosopher. But of course the Scottish philosopher was not saying that all wise persons are professional philosophers. He would probably have also said that in any case philosophy ought not be equated with the academic discipline of philosophy. A person can philosophize informally, but he may quite dislike the professional discipline of philosophy and even despise its preoccupations and much of its method. Rather, the Scottish philosopher was saying that philosophers ought seek to be profoundly wise, and that their discipline ought serve this all important goal of wisdom. A person who is truly wise sees through to the heart of things, and also has the wisdom to order his life accordingly. An intelligent and highly educated person may not be very wise, whereas a person of but moderate intelligence and education may attain to wisdom. Let us imagine a lad finishing his schooling with very good grades. He knows what he wants in life — for his ambition has been imparted to him by his parents. He wants to be successful in his chosen career. He wants to make good money, marry well, make his way in life and in general be counted as successful. Because of his talents and his energy — already apparent in his schooldays — he attains his goal. He enters the leading university of his home city, takes economics, law and philosophy. Quickly he discovers in himself a liking for the discipline of philosophy — and he goes on to major in it, do his Honours year in the discipline, and then on to his Ph.D, specializing in the atheistic philosopher Nietzsche. He does well in life, but despite his education and talents, he never attains to the true heart of things: Christ and holiness of life. He never attains true wisdom, a wisdom which will carry him to success in the Afterlife.

In our Gospel today our Lord begins by observing that his audience are successful in reading the signs of weather changes. “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky.” This may be taken as symbolic of so many of “the children of this world” who are successful in life. Our Lord’s audience can successfully read the weather, but why is it that they “do not know how to interpret this present time?” That is to say, they cannot seem to understand the urgency and the nature of our Lord’s preaching and teaching. He is proclaiming the presence of the Kingdom, which calls for repentance. They do not see that they must repent. They must change their course and turn to God for the immense blessings he is offering them — in his Son, Jesus Christ. It is similar to the urgent appeal of St Paul: This is the day! This is the hour! Be reconciled to God! But the call is left unheard and unheeded. So it was in our Lord’s time, and so it is from generation to generation in all too many cases. Our Lord provides another simile to illustrate the urgency of turning away from what is not to the point, and being reconciled to God. “Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way, or he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny” (Luke 12:54-59). The “adversary” in the brief parable is perhaps God himself who is calling the person to account, and will do so at the judgment which is nigh. Be reconciled with your adversary, our Lord says. If you do not, at the judgment you will be thrown into prison. There will be no avoiding the full account there. Let us pray for and treasure the wisdom that comes with faith in Jesus Christ, and guide our whole lives according to that wisdom. Let us not be merely successful, while lacking true wisdom.

It is notable how often the allusion to God’s judgment recurs in the parables and teaching of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. The thought of a judgment can exercise the mind wonderfully, and bring wisdom. It is a simple thought, but it can occasion a tremendous turning point, and a real start to religious living. Time and again in various religions this thought has brought with it conversion of life. Great saints kept its thought before them always. It is a thought that will surely bring wisdom to our course.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Ephesians 4:1-6)

Christian Consistency Several years ago there was an article in The Catholic Weekly (Sydney) containing an interview with John Phillips who has just received a papal knighthood — that of the Order of St Gregory the Great. In the interview he made the point that there ought be no difference between personal ethics and ethics in business and the workplace. The Church has insisted repeatedly that the Christian ought live his faith consistently everywhere, including in politics and the workplace. That is to say, what the Faith states to be right and wrong ought be brought into the secular sphere. Blessed John Henry Newman in one of his Plain and Parochial Sermons states that consistency is the true hallmark of holiness. St Paul in his letter to the Ephesians appeals to his readers that they "lead a life worthy of your vocation" (Ephesians 4:1).

All members of the Church, all of Christ's faithful, have a true vocation. The whole of their lives should be a worthy living out of that vocation. This applies in the home. It applies in the workplace. It applies to one's participation in the life of the Church. Let us pray for consistency in the living out of our calling.

(E.J.Tyler)

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