Homily for
Ordinary Time 17
July 26, 2020
Wisdom
I’ll
never forget the first time I told anyone that I was thinking about becoming a
priest. I was 14 years old, and my best friend Billy and I were lying in our
tent at Boy Scout summer camp, and we were talking about what we wanted to be
in the future. He shared his dream of becoming an anesthesiologist (he’s now a
civil engineer) and then he asked what I wanted to do. I thought, “Oh no,
should I tell him?” I was very nervous, but got up the courage to say, “Well…I
was thinking about becoming a priest.”
There
was a very, very long pause before Billy replied, “Joe, you’re not THAT ugly, I
know you can get a girlfriend!”
For him,
the priesthood was just something that ugly bachelors did who couldn’t get
married. What a far cry from what the priesthood actually is – a life consecrated to the Lord to lead souls to
Heaven!
Contrast
that with another friend from my childhood, Steven, who had a very deep faith.
He was a couple years younger than me, so I got my driver’s license first. When
I was telling him about getting my driver’s license, he said, “Oh, Joe, that’s
great! Now you can get to daily Mass!” My response was something like, “Uh…yeah…I’m
not sure that’s what I’ll be doing with my driver’s license!”
For
Steven, the freedom of driving was meant to help me grow in holiness. For me,
it was about getting out of the house. He was the wise one – I was the fool!
Wisdom,
according to St. Augustine, “is the contemplation of divine things.” It means
understanding this world properly in light of eternity. It is one of the gifts
of the Holy Spirit, a gift given to Solomon in today’s first reading. He wants
to be able to rule Israel rightly – not for his own benefit, but benefitting
the people. In other words, he wants to see his kingly rule in the light of
Heaven. And God grants this request for wisdom lavishly!
This
theme of wisdom is also present in the Gospel. Consider this pearl of great
price – this pearl was probably sold in a marketplace, and many people probably
walked past it without knowing its true value. Finally, someone with a trained
eye – a merchant, it says in Scripture – recognizes that this pearl was
tremendously valuable, and purchases it. He sees it from a different
perspective and realizes what’s valuable and what is cheap.
In the
same way, a truly wise person will be able to evaluate the things of this world
to know what is truly valuable, and what is worthless. Let’s take a look at
some things of everyday life to see the wise way to view them:
Money – the world says grab as much as
you can, for money guarantees happiness. Wisdom says that money is a gift given
to us by God so that we can live and be generous to others, and we have to
steward it rightly.
Prayer – the world says that prayer is a
boring waste of time. Wisdom says that prayer is our essential connection with
the Lord, Who we desperately need more than the air we breathe.
Suffering – the world says that we
should avoid suffering at all costs, since it is worthless. Wisdom sees in
suffering an opportunity to grow in virtue, to have our souls purified, as we
unite our suffering to Christ’s cross for the salvation of the world.
Our Body – I once saw the world’s view
of the body summed up on a humorous bumper sticker that read, “My body is not a
temple, it’s an amusement park!” But wisdom says that our bodies are not our
own, they have been purchased at a price, and thus we should glorify God in our
bodies as living temples of the Holy Spirit.
Work – the world takes one of two
extremes: either we become workaholics and make our lives revolve around work,
or we see it as a drudgery just to get a paycheck. Wisdom, on the other hand,
sees work as an opportunity to develop our gifts and talents for the service
and benefit of human beings, united to Christ Who Himself was a laborer.
Leadership – the world encourages
leaders to seek after power, to get their way and force others to do their
will. But the example of Christ is one of a leader who serves in humility.
Faith – the world sees faith in God as a
crutch for the weak, or perhaps as belief in a comforting myth. By contrast,
wisdom recognizes that our faith is based on the testimony of men and women who
actually saw the Risen Christ, and who died for that belief – and thus our
faith is not blind but makes sense.
Sex – the world sees sex as a fun way to
spend an evening. Looking at it with Christian wisdom, we see that it is the
most powerful way in which we can show our love for our spouse – an action that
makes incarnate one’s wedding vows, and which allows us to become like God in potentially
co-creating a new life.
Meaning of Life – a priest where I was
growing up once said that the first question God is going to ask you when you
die is, “Did you have a good time?” But this is the world’s foolishness, not
the Lord’s wisdom. Life is not about having a good time. Wisdom says that our
life is given to us so that we can know, love, and serve God here so we can be
eternally with Him in Heaven forever.
Death – the world sees death as the end,
as a tragic closure to this life…and ironically the world also believes that
pretty much everyone goes to Heaven. We as Christians have the wisdom to know
that death is a passageway into a new and more abundant life, but that we must pray
for the dead to be cleansed of their sins in Purgatory.
My
friends, St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2 that “We speak a message of
wisdom among the [spiritually] mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the
rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.” The follies of this world are
empty, passing. Real wisdom, a life lived well, consists in knowing how to evaluate
all things in light of God – seeing the world through His eyes. Then we will
know what is truly valuable, like the
pearl of great price or the treasure in the field.
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