Ordinary Time 32 - Wisdom vs Knowledge

 

Homily for November 12, 2023

Ordinary Time 32

Wisdom vs Knowledge

 

            There was an old man praying the Rosary in a horse-drawn public carriage (which were like buses back in the olden days) when, at a certain stop, a young man got in. The young man, noticing the man devoutly praying the beads, replied, “Sir, do you still believe in that?”

            He nodded that he did, and the younger man launched into a long monologue. “Oh, but religion is over! We don’t need superstition like that any more. We have science, we have reason!” And he began to try to tell the older man about all of the scientific advances that were up-and-coming.

            The older man listened patiently, and they came to his stop. He said to the younger man, “This has been a very enlightening conversation, I would like to discuss this further with you. May I give you my address, and you can pay me a visit to tell me more about this science?” The young man agreed, so the old man wrote his address on a scrap of paper and departed.

            When the old man had disembarked, the young man glanced at the paper and was shocked. It read, “Blaise Paschal, Paris Academy of Sciences.” The young man had tried to explain science to one of the greatest scientists in history, one who also possessed a rich Catholic Faith. Both men had knowledge, but only one of them had wisdom.

            Our first reading is a panegyric to wisdom. Despite all of our advances in science, technology, and learning, our world is rather short on wisdom. What is wisdom? How does it differ from knowledge? How do we grow in wisdom? Let’s examine these questions!

            Knowledge is facts, wisdom is an understanding of how the facts fit into the whole, what it all means. We may know what type of tree that is, but wisdom tells us that the tree is beautiful. We may know how the human body works, but wisdom tells us what it means to be human and what the meaning of our lives is. Knowledge can tell us what the stars are made of, but wisdom stands in awe and wonder at the heavens.

            Knowledge is good, but can be very dangerous when divorced from wisdom. After all, the first sin was to desire the “tree of knowledge” – growing so much in knowledge of all things, both good and evil, so that we would become “like gods”. Even today we see a tremendous temptation to be “like gods” with our knowledge. For example, there is a movement in science called transhumanism which seeks to live forever by merging technology and the human body. The ultimate desire of transhumanism is to download our consciousness onto a hard drive so that our personality lives on a computer, which will never die – an attempt to be like gods, without God! It is also acting “like God” to create or manipulate human life in a laboratory, instead of seeing human life as a free gift from God that we receive with gratitude. It is acting “like God” to develop technologies that cause death and destruction – after Robert Oppenheimer created the nuclear bomb, he famously declared, “I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds” – almost proud of his quasi-godlike powers.

            Wisdom is the proper balance to knowledge. Knowledge asks, “Is it possible to do this?” while wisdom asks, “Is it prudent, just, or good to do this?” Wisdom helps us to see everything in this life in the light of eternity. For example, wisdom understands that money is not an idol; wisdom understands that suffering can be redeemed by love; wisdom sees every human being in light of their intrinsic dignity from God.

            So how do we grow in wisdom? How do we cultivate that understanding of the meaning of life, the proper understanding of all things in light of eternity? Three ways.

            First, study the wisdom of past ages. Every page of the Scriptures is full of rich wisdom of how best to live life. The lives and writings of the saints show us how wisdom is put into practice. Surround yourself with wise people, both those of the past and those alive now, and seek out their wisdom. It’s far easier to glean the wisdom of others than to try to discover it ourselves!

            Second, learn the lessons God is trying to teach us, particularly through suffering. We almost always seek to get out of suffering – be it physical, emotional, relational – but this is a priceless opportunity to gain a new, eternal perspective. What is God trying to teach you through your bad diagnosis? What is God trying to form in you through that difficult boss or challenging marriage? How will your perspective change because of the loneliness, struggle, or pain that you’re going through? Nothing is wasted – all can form wisdom within us.

            Finally, we can grow in wisdom through wonder. We don’t have much wonder in today’s world. We like to have everything under our control, with all knowledge literally in the palm of our hands. But we should also cultivate wonder, which is the antidote to the pride that knowledge can engender. Sit one evening and marvel at the stars. Listen to a beautiful piece of music without trying to critique it. Spend time in Adoration and listen to the Teacher. Wonder makes us realize our proper place in the cosmos – we do not, and will never, know all things, and that is good! As God revealed to St. Catherine of Siena, “I am He Who is, you are she who is not.” It’s good to feel small in the universe!

            Even the most learned scholars in history needed to cultivate wisdom. St. Thomas Aquinas, who was perhaps the most brilliant man to ever live, who wrote literally millions of words about every subject under the sun, stopped writing towards the end of his life, leaving his magnum opus unfinished. When his friends asked why, he told them that he had experienced a vision of Christ Crucified while he was celebrating Mass. He said that compared to seeing the greatness of God, everything he had written was “like straw”. A man of profound humility – and wisdom.

            Knowledge is good – very good. It has immeasurably improved human lives in our modern world. But I fear that we have lost wisdom – we do not understand where we’ve come from, where we’re going, or any meaning behind all this knowledge. But Christ, Who is Wisdom incarnate, wants to balance our knowledge with His wisdom – so that we can keep everything in its proper eternal perspective.