Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 8, 2019 - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[Wis 9:13-18b; Phlm 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33]Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight. [Wisdom]
Whenever I preach a retreat for clergy, I find myself using examples from my own pastoral experience to illustrate the points I am making. As I look back on them, I sometimes wonder how on earth I came to certain decisions that had an outcome far more positive than I was anticipating. The words from the Book of Wisdom in the first scripture for this Sunday seem to underline why the positive result came about: God sent a spirit of wisdom.
One of the experiences I have in mind occurred when I was asked to talk to a classroom of third graders on the subject of wisdom. I sailed into class, confident of the subject, and decided to first ask the children what they thought wisdom to be. The first kid I called on stood up and said: "Knowledge gained from experience!" That pretty much deflated me and taught me that wisdom is where you find it and experience reveals it. I have many of the same experiences with the college students I meet everyday here at Texas Tech University, where I live. They face many challenges and decisions that they have no experience to help them with. I pray that God's holy spirit of wisdom will fill the words that I speak when a student speaks to me about one or more of those challenges and decisions.
Taking a few moments at the end of each day to reflect on the experiences of the day and how we met them with God's help is a great way to see how our "paths on earth are made straight." AMEN