Make Gaining Wisdom A Priority

Reflection on “Make Gaining Wisdom A Priority” based on the Gospel of Matthew 25:1-13 and Wisdom 6:12-16 (32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time):

If you could be granted your biggest wishes, what would they be? Would you ask for wealth, or long life, or good health? Would you ask for blessings for your children, or for happiness, or for world peace? Of course, all of these are noble and wonderful wishes.

But what if you were given only one wish. Just one. What would it be?

From the Book of Kings: One night, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and gave the young king the chance to ask for any wish he wanted, but only one wish (1 Kings 3:5). Wealth, pleasure, health, power—all of these must have occurred to Solomon. But he asked for none of these, important as they were. Solomon asked only for wisdom.

And so, along with wisdom, God granted also wealth and health and power and children and fame to Solomon. It was wisdom that allowed Solomon to handle all of these other gifts with grace. In other words, without wisdom, you will not know how to handle your wealth and health and power accordingly… and you will still be miserable.

We pray to stay healthy especially in this pandemic and to have a long life…. The question is - if God were to give you a long healthy and prosperous life – what will you do with your life?

Most people think of Jesus’ teachings in terms of moral and ethical values – things are either good or bad – right or wrong – about goodness, righteousness and love. That’s true but Jesus taught something equally as important, and that is wisdom. Jesus wants people to be good – that is obvious, but he also wants people to be wise.

Wisdom is more than cleverness, or book-learning. It is about deep understanding, discerning. Wisdom is basically seeing ourselves, others, seeing our current circumstances, seeing reality as God sees them – from God’s perspective.

An American tourist visited a Polish Rabbi, who was looked upon by the people of his time as a sage and saintly person. On his arrival at the rabbi's residence, the tourist was astonished to discover that it was only one simple room. The walls were lined with books; a table and a chair were the only furnishings. "But rabbi," the tourist asked, "Where is your furniture?" To which the rabbi replied, "How about you, where is yours?" "Where is mine?" said the puzzled tourist, "I'm only a tourist here. I am just passing through." "So am I" answered the Rabbi, "so am I."

Living wisely means "staying awake", so to speak. Living wisely means looking ahead. Living wisely means acknowledging that we are only "tourists" on God's earth, that we are only "passing through." Living wisely means pointing oneself in the direction of the very Source of life. Living wisely means acknowledging one's dependence on God not only for life but also for the way of life. Living wisely means developing a lifestyle of faith in God's promise of ultimate, total fulfillment -- when the "tourist" season of life is over.

And so, as we draw close to the end of the liturgical year, the church, through the gospel, invites us to contemplate the end – the end of our lives and the end of the world. The way to prepare for the end is not to live in fear and anxiety, or to go after prophets and visionaries who claim to know how and when the world will end.

How and when that will be, only God knows. How then are we to prepare for the end-times? Today’s parable gives us the answer: The best way to prepare for the end is to follow the example of the wise virgins. The wise virgins took enough oil to keep their lamps burning. In the same way we should continue to engage and persevere in prayers and good works, the oil of our faith, to keep our faith alive. That is the best way to make ourselves ready and prepared for the Lord, no matter how and when the Lord chooses to come.

Admittedly, life is full of surprises. Most of us know that, and those who don’t will surely learn it. Some of life’s surprises are pleasant and some of them are painful, to say the least. We would prefer the pleasant. They are so much more fun, so much easier to handle. But we had better prepare for the painful surprises, because some of them are sure to come.

Some of you might be thinking, “Isn’t that a bit morbid?” No, it is only sensible. Life is not made up entirely only of happy events. Life also includes some challenges, some emergencies. If you and I are wise, we will make preparation for such occasions before they come.

How are we to do that? Build spiritual reserves now. Learn to pray daily, learn to get in touch with God and draw upon His power. Listen to God daily. The time is sure to come when our own human strength will not be enough to last us through the night. If we know that, then we should get ready for it now. That is just common sense.

Time and time again, Jesus appeals to us not only to be good, but to be wise. This is the emphasis of today’s Gospel reading. How do we become wise? OR How do we find wisdom? It is found in God Himself. From the letter of St. James, “Does any of you lack wisdom? Let him seek it from God, who gives it liberally to all who ask.” (James 1:5).

As we heard in the first reading from the Book of Wisdom:

“She is readily perceived by those who love her,
and found by those who seek her.”

Meaning - we must decide to pursue wisdom intentionally. We must make gaining wisdom our priority. Wisdom does not just come naturally as we go through life. There are people in their 60’s 70’s and even 80’s who still don’t get it. Have you noticed that some people keep repeating the same mistakes, as if they are not paying attention to life at all, not heeding its lessons? Just living will not automatically impart wisdom. In fact, wisdom is not even just learned by life’s struggles, “school of hard knocks” so to speak, though that is certainly one of her classrooms.

Wisdom can be gained by learning from our good and poor decisions, and those of others.

Wisdom is not the same as intelligence nor talent. Wisdom is not just knowing how to speak cleverly. It is not the same as being knowledgeable. Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know. Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you have, be it much or little. Wisdom is knowing what to say, or when to remain silent.

It is also possible to gain wisdom by observing the lives of others.

We can be inspired by the example of another person including the saints we have devotion to.

But – this is very important to keep this in mind - the really important things in life are non-transferrable… regardless of how you are to that person.

The parable of the ten virgins from our Gospel reading - Some people have criticized this parable as a picture of selfishness because the five who had oil would not share with the five who had not. But that is missing the point of the story. Jesus was not talking about lamps and oil. He was talking about people and life. And the plain truth is that there are some things in this life that cannot be transferred from one person to another, regardless of how much you desire to do it.

Think of a gifted artist in the later years of life and think how wonderful it would be if he could transfer that genius to the mind and the hands of a younger person. And yet we know that can never happen. The only way a younger person can ever have that genius is to find it and build it for himself.

That is how it is with all of life.

This is what Jesus is saying. Faith, hope, courage are intensely personal virtues. When the crisis comes in our lives, you do not have the time any more to go and get them, and there is no way to borrow them from someone else. So, you had better build them on your own, store up some spiritual reserves, and carry them with you along the way of life – so you will be ready however, whenever the Son of Man will come.

God bless…

32nd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME—CYCLE A

November 7/8, 2020

The Text: Matthew 25:1-13; Wisdom 6:12-16