What is wisdom?
The ancient philosopher, Socrates, would go around to various workplaces in Athens and ask basic, albeit deep, questions. To the lawyer, he would ask: “what is justice?” To the teacher, “what is education?” To the physician, “what is health?” He wasn’t trying to be a pain; he was genuine. And he was surprised when many people couldn’t provide much depth to the very question that permeated their state in life.
As many of you know, I teach high school seniors at Valle Catholic and we are learning a little about the ancient philosophers as we begin our school year. And I posed that question to them: “What is wisdom?”
They responded well and as you would imagine eighteen-year-olds to respond: “Father, wisdom is knowledge” or “Wisdom is the attainment of information.” Fine replies. One said, “Wisdom is how you give good advice.” And these are all in the ballpark. After all: wisdom, knowledge, and counsel are some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and are therefore related.
“But,” I asked, “what if I used that knowledge and information to give advice to counsel someone to do something bad – bad for them, I mean – but from which I would profit? What if I were to manipulate that knowledge to counsel them for my good?”
This was a deep question and, admittedly, it was difficult for them. So, I walked them down the Via Negativa – the Road of Negation. The Via Negativa looks at the opposite of a thing and, by doing so, tries to arrive at the actual definition of a thing. And so I asked them: “What is the opposite of wisdom?”
“Foolishness,” they said.
And that is correct. The opposite of wisdom is foolishness.
“And how would we define foolishness?” I asked.
Their replies were along the lines of “foolishness is when a person acts dumb”; “foolishness doesn’t take into account the big picture”; “foolishness leads to unnecessary suffering and evil.” Pretty good.
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Take a look at that second reading. I love how it opens.
It says:
watch carefully how you live; not as foolish persons, but as wise.
That’s an echo from the first reading which also opened by saying:
Forsake foolishness that you may live.
At this point, I have questions. I wonder: how are we to do that? If this is so important, then shouldn’t God also provide us a clear way to become wise and avoid foolishness?
Please forgive me, I know this is a little heady – I guess
that’s why I’m the philosophy teacher – but I pondered all of these questions
and a new question came to light. And it was: why in the world does the Church have two readings about wisdom and
then follow those up with the gospel about Jesus and eating His flesh and how
that brings about eternal life?
Aha! That was it! The Eucharist IS the way to grow in wisdom and avoid foolishness. … But how?
The first reading says
Advance in the way of understanding.
And the second reading says
Try to understand what is the will of the
Lord.
So let’s do that…..
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The will of the Lord is that Jesus says we are to eat His flesh. Why?
He says it will bring us eternal life. Ok...
… Is there a time when we see that eating something brought humanity the opposite? A time when the will of the Lord was that we not-eat something (Via Negativa…) Yes. Of course! The Garden!
Adam and Eve were told not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Why did God do that?
It wasn’t because God was holding something back; it wasn’t
as though He was trying to keep Adam and Eve from knowing what was good and what
was evil. In fact, He had told them
what was good and what was evil! Eating from
this tree – and thus disobeying me – is evil. Eating from any other tree – and thus
following my will – is good. Do this and you will live.
The Tree wasn’t bad. It really was the source of wisdom; God used it to show what was good and what was evil. Eating was not required.
But … Adam and Eve did not listen to God. They listened to the Evil One. They bought the lie that God was not a good Father. This was foolishness. And they ate and received foolishness’ reward: suffering and death.
That’s not the end of the story though.
There was another named-Tree in the Garden. Do you remember what it was called? It was called the… Tree of Life. That was the tree from which they were supposed to eat. (Oh, how foolish you were!) And they didn’t eat from it. In fact, after they had become foolish, they were no longer allowed to eat from the Tree of Life. An angel with a sword of fire now guarded it.
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Hang with me.
We now fast-forward and we arrive at the Gospel and what
is Jesus teaching?
Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.
What Adam and Eve brought by foolishly eating (namely, the apple of death) Jesus will undo by having us wisely eat (namely, the bread of life).
This is the will of God which we are to try and understand: The Eucharist is the fruit that comes from the Tree of Life!
Walk with me in this for a moment. …
How does Jesus die?
On a Cross.
What is that cross made of?
Wood. From… a tree!
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I don’t know about you, but I love this. It’s phenomenal.
It also explains why the Church as some rules surrounding the Eucharist. Since the Eucharist is Jesus, the fruit of the Tree of Life, we must put aside the ways of Adam and Eve.
The angel with the sword of fire still guards the Tree of Life. How could we possibly tell him to step aside and let us eat? We can’t.
Pride has no place in this new garden, just like it had no place in the old one. If Adam and Eve fell because of their pride, then the answer is clear: we must be humble.
Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity …. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
The Church, should she have rules concerning the Eucharist and who can receive It and so on, has rules not to arbitrarily impose exclusivity, but to alert us to this essential reality: humility is the pre-requisite to wisdom and thus to the reception of holy communion.
This is why the Church has always taught, for example, that some of the big sins – drunkenness, sexual immorality, disregard for the Lord and His day, and so on – are signs of self-willed living, of foolishness and pride, and the angel with the sword of fire (which is the Holy Spirit) will not let us eat without severe consequences. He, through the Church, alerts us that we do not have the prerequisite humility and wisdom to reach for this Tree.
Wisdom has built her house and she has set up her seven columns.
The house which is built is The Church and the seven columns are the sacraments.
One of those sacraments is the Sacrament of Confession. This is the sacrament that is given precisely to grant us re-entry into Holy Communion.
She calls from the heights out over the city: "Let whoever is simple turn in here; To the one who lacks understanding, she says, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding."
Yes, confession is humbling. But "taste and see the goodness of the Lord," says the Psalmost.
May God give us the grace to put aside any foolishness and to walk as children of wisdom.
+In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
