A Young Man’s Search for Wisdom

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author.

“For what man can learn the counsel of God, or who can discern what the Lord wills? For the reasoning of mortals is worthless. And our designs are likely to fail. For perishable body weighs down the soul, we can hardly guess at what is on earth. And what is at hand we find with labor. But who has traced out what is in the heavens?” This passage we had today from the Book of Wisdom is a young man, who is faced with a lot of decisions, a lot of responsibilities. Tradition attributes this to King Solomon. And it’s very true today, that it’s very difficult being a young person.  There are many decisions, many challenges, and we’re at a time in history when almost everything has been called into question. So, it’s a very difficult time for young people. And, at the same time this person is sensing his own responsibilities, he has to make a lot of decisions, and yet he’s aware of his ignorance. And this is true, not just of course, for young persons, but for all of us. We all have responsibilities; we all have to make decisions. And we can all realize that we have a lot of ignorance, compared to all the decisions that we have to make. The Psalm today said, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart,” not just head thoughts, head wisdom, but a wisdom of the heart.  And so, the Book of Wisdom goes on to say, “who has learned Your counsel,” that is who knows the counsel, the thoughts of God, “except, unless,” what unless, unless “You have given wisdom,” You God have given wisdom, that it’s not something that we can get just by our own efforts. But this wisdom is a gift. “You have given wisdom and sent Your Holy Spirit from on high.” And that’s what happened to you at the moment of your baptism, the Holy Spirit was sent on high with His gifts, and especially His gift of wisdom. And we’ve been talking about that. And just last week, we spoke about the gift of wisdom. And so, it seems providential that today we have this passage from the book of Wisdom, which is like a continuation. And it goes on to say, by this gift of wisdom of the Holy Spirit, it says, “thus the path of those on earth, were set, right. And men were taught what pleases you. And were saved by wisdom”, saved by wisdom. So how powerful is this wisdom, which is able to set our paths, right, and even save us. So today, we’re looking at this great book of Wisdom, and we’re going to be focusing on the chapters six through nine. And I don’t understand everything in these chapters at all. But I think even without understanding everything, this is one of those parts where we can still receive a lot of blessings and helps, even if we don’t understand it, because a lot of it is mysterious, but, it helps us understand and appreciate more, wisdom, how important, how great wisdom is, how much the world and how much each of us need wisdom. But the good thing is, this wisdom is offered to us since Baptism. But how much, as we were saying last week, how much it’s able to grow in us also depends on your cooperation. So, this wisdom, gift of wisdom can grow. So, this is a famous passage which is describing wisdom. It’s mysterious, but it’s also very, very impressive. “For in her,” so speaking of wisdom, in the feminine, “in her, there is a spirit that is intelligent, Holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct and vulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent, and pure and most subtle.”  So very impressive. With this all powerful and unpolluted, uncorrupted wisdom. And it goes on to say, “she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty. Therefore, nothing defiled, gains entrance into her, for she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of His goodness.” And that continues, “though she is but one, she can do all things, all powerful, can do all things. And while remaining in herself, she renews all things.” How much does our world today need renewal?  So much that has been damaged and wounded.  She renews all things in every generation, so including in our generation today. What does she do? She passes into holy souls, passes into holy souls, beginning again, at Baptism. And what does she do? What happens when this wisdom enters and begins to grow? It says, “she makes them friends of God.” She makes them friends of God. And guess what else? “She makes them friends of God and prophets”, friends of God and prophets.  “For God loves nothing so much”, as what? What does God love nothing so much, “as the man who lives with wisdom. For she is more beautiful than the sun and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light, she is found to be superior. For the light is exceeded by night, but against wisdom, evil does not prevail. She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other. And she orders all things well. So powerful and so beautiful, is this wisdom.” So, what or who is this wisdom? Last week, we were talking about how St. Paul speaks of the eternal, uncreated wisdom, the Divine Wisdom of God. And then God gives us a share in His eternal, uncreated wisdom, by the gift of wisdom. So just to recall, we’re looking at last week about the gift of wisdom. This is a special knowledge of God, which comes from friendship with God, from a communion, from love for God, St. John Paul described it this way. He says, “The greatest of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of wisdom, which is a light that we received from on high”.  Again, not from our own doing from our own studies, but from on high. It is a special sharing that is mysterious, is special sharing, in that highest and mysterious knowledge, which is that of God Himself. So, it’s God is sharing with us His own knowledge. He says, “it’s the root of a new awareness, a knowledge permeated by Divine Love, by means of which the soul becomes familiar with divine things.”  And even says it’s like, it almost experiences divine things like it tastes them. The truly wise person is not simply the one who knows the things of God, but the one who experiences and lives them. And St. Thomas Aquinas says, “it’s a kind of union of the soul with Him.” So not just knowing about God, but it’s a knowledge which comes from union with God. And the mystic Maria Val Torta says, “This wisdom is love for God.” This wisdom is love for God. It is the wisdom of wisdoms, because he who knows, he who loves, knows everything and possesses everything. So, it’s the wisdom that comes from love. And so, what is this wisdom doing? So, the Book of Wisdom goes on to say, “wisdom is radiant and unfading. And she is easily discerned by those who love her.”  So, it’s speaking about wisdom as a person. Again, it’s speaking about wisdom in the feminine, “and who is easy to discern by those who loves her and is found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. He who rises early, to seek her,” kind of like maybe you did the Sunday, getting up early to come, seek the Lord’s wisdom.  “he who raises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for he will find her sitting at his gates.” So, she’s not playing hard to get. She is anxious for this relationship. So, “she’s waiting at the gates, to fix one’s thoughts on her as perfect understanding, because she goes about seeking those worthy of her and she graciously appears to them in their paths and meets them and their every thoughts.” So, it’s a wisdom which is anxious to be with you. And so, what does this young man do? He in His Book of Wisdom, he chooses her as he begins to realize how great is the wisdom of God, how beautiful, how desirous is this wisdom of God. He is drawn to her. And so, what does he do? He chooses her. He says, “I loved her, and I sought her from my youth. And I desired to take her for my bride.” I decided to take this Divine Wisdom, the most beautiful and splendid of all, he says, for my bride, “and I became enamored of her beauty. I preferred her to kingdoms and thrones, and I counted wealth as nothing in comparison with her. Neither did I likened her to any precious gem, because all gold is but a little sand compared to her. I loved her more than health, and beauty. And I chose to have her, rather than light, because her radiance never ceases.”  And so, what happened as he chooses wisdom as his bride, what happens is he chooses her above all, it says, “all good things came to me, along with her. And then her hands uncounted wealth.”  So, he gave up everything, to seek her. And because he put her first, he received everything. St. Louis De Montfort wrote a book about this eternal wisdom, the love, of eternal wisdom. And that’s a very blessed book, but I just want to mention two points that he makes in that. One, he speaks about the wisdom like St. Paul, about the wisdom of the cross. He says, “You will not find this wisdom anywhere in this world, save in the cross,” and is speaking the wisdom of Jesus. “He is so truly incorporated and united himself with the cross, that in all things we can say, wisdom is the cross. And the cross is wisdom.” We heard that the love of God is wisdom. And here he’s saying that the cross is wisdom, because that’s the essence of the cross. It’s love, for God, divine love, the cross we have represented here. And he also speaks of the special association of our Blessed Mother with this wisdom. In fact, most of the tradition, the Church attributes a lot of these passages in the wisdom literature, this scripture to our Blessed Mother. I’ll just read you one of this passage. This is from another of the books of the wisdom literature, which is the book of Sirach it says, “I am the mother of fair love, a fear, of knowledge, and of holy hope, in me is all the grace of the way and the truth. In me is all hope of life and virtue.”  So that’s just a little quick run through these chapters six through nine of this Book of Wisdom. And so, one thing you could do is to try to read this week, those chapters six through nine of the Book of Wisdom, if you want it to give you the whole book, it’s an extraordinary book. But I want to end with this prayer. So,  the young man who’s beginning to realize, wisdom, how great wisdom is and who’s choosing, he has decided to choose wisdom. But it says, “But I perceive that I will not possess wisdom” unless he says, “God gave her to me.” So again, it’s not something that I can do by myself. It’s not something I can get from a human source. It can only come from God. And so what does he do? He says, Well, I’m just going to give up, right? The heck with it. No, that’s not what he does. He says, “Therefore I prayed and understanding was given Me.   I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.” So that is by prayer, by turning to God, that he receives this wisdom. And so, what I want to end with is his prayer, this prayer, this great prayer for wisdom. And so if you want to, just close your eyes, and make this prayer, your own, “Oh God of my father’s, and Lord of mercy, give me the wisdom that sits by your throne. For I am your slave and the son of your maidservant. A man who is weak and short lived with little understanding of judgment and laws. For even if one is perfect among the sons of men, yet without the wisdom that comes from You, he will be regarded as nothing. With You is wisdom.” Just have heard that simple point is extremely important – “with you.” Wisdom is with God.  “With you is wisdom. Who knows your work that was present when You made the world?  Who understands what is pleasing in your sight? What is right according to your commandments, send her forth.” So now he’s asking something, recognizing his need, he says, “Send her forth from the holy heavens. Send her forth from the holy heavens, and from the throne of Your glory send her, that she may be with me and toil, that I may learn what is pleasing to You. For she knows and understands all things and she will guide me wisely in my actions, and guard me with her glory. Who has learned your counsel unless you have given wisdom and sent your Holy Spirit from on High, and thus the paths of those on earth were set right. And men were taught what pleases You and were saved by wisdom.”  Amen

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:

Wisdom 9:13-18
Psalms 90:3-4,5-6,12-13,14,17
Gift of Wisdom
7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit