I am back after a week’s
“Medical leave.” I wish to thank everyone for your kind prayers, messages, and
good thoughts.
Who are the people in your life that you consider to be
truly wise? They don’t need to be scholars. Wisdom doesn’t deal with how much
one knows but rather with how one knows. They also don’t need to be
people in power; indeed, many rulers and bosses are not wise.
The wise are not often found among the sound and sleek or
those whose lives are spent in the pursuit of status, material wealth, fame or
prestige. (And how much of our own energies do we expend chasing after such
things in our own lives?) No. The wise are found among those Jesus mentions in
his Beatitudes: the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourning, the peacemakers,
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and, to be sure, among the
persecuted.
We may know wise people who do not necessarily always act
wisely. Sometimes, the weaker aspects of their humanity eclipse what in them
may be considered wise.
How about you? When are you wise, and when are you not? I
find a helpful guideline in the text of Wisdom 7: “. . . nought that is sullied
enters into her (wisdom)” Wisdom is at all times pure: when our thoughts or
actions are tinged with impurity, or mixed motives, or hidden agendas, then
wisdom flees. “. . . wickedness prevails not over wisdom.” So purify your
thoughts, examine your motives carefully, and, above all pray for the gift of
Wisdom which, “passing into holy souls from age to age, . . . produces friends
of God and prophets.”
If you have a chance, you’d do well to sit for a quiet few
moments and look over what is found in Wisdom 7:22b-8:1.
Have a nice day. God bless you.
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