Word to the Wise
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - Wednesday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time (Our Lady of Mount Carmel)
[Isaiah 10:5-7, 13B-16 and Matthew 11:25-27]I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.
Jesus' prayer at this moment in the Gospel of Matthew has often been noted for its "Johannine" flavor and tone. However, the Gospel of Matthew makes a point of Jesus' relationship with his Father. He has a mission to carry out and he intends to see it all the way through. What sustains him is his relationship to the Father. He shares that relationship with his disciples who must receive it with the trusting attitude characteristic of the child. To be "childlike" is not to be "childish." The latter can mean a totally self-involved egoism. The former means a willingness to trust an authoritative figure. The words of Isaiah today against Assyria (an occasional instrument of God's plan) shows that when one takes what God accomplishes and calls it one's own accomplishment, one courts disaster. The "hidden" wisdom means that if it is hidden, the reason lies not in God's desire to conceal but in our inability to admit something more powerful than ourselves can be the source of our salvation. On a basic level, people in 12 step programs learn this profoundly. A childlike confidence in God is the beginning of holy wisdom. AMEN