RBWords

      I have told the story here before about the grade school student, who responded to my question, "What is wisdom?", by saying simply, "Knowledge gained from experience!"  That took the wind out of my self-assured confidence that I would be the one telling that to the child!  The result, however, was a gain in wisdom for me because I have learned that children can be wise indeed!  But there is something more to be said after reading or hearing the passage from the Book of Wisdom today - a great hymn in praise of "Wisdom."

     Christian tradition identifies "wisdom" with the work of the Holy Spirit.  In the traditional prayer to the Holy Spirit, we ask to be made "truly wise."  Wisdom gained only from human experience can leave out any idea of faith and reduce wisdom to "common sense."  The Wisdom that comes with faith enables us to evaluate our experience in the light of faith and acquire those virtues we know as "cardinal virtues" - prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.  Reflection on our own experience in the light of those can help us to see how God's providential spirit is operating in our lives.  Wisdom can, indeed, come from practical ordinary experience, but it can also come from God working through wise parents, teachers, co-workers and friends.  

     My pastoral experience, especially with university students, has taught me that a great deal of what I have learned is yet to be learned by those to whom I minister, and a great deal of what I have yet to learn will come from those same students.  The Holy Spirit of Wisdom works in many ways and we can join in the hymn of praise to Wisdom in today's scripture with grateful hearts and minds.  AMEN