Word to the Wise
Saturday, June 3, 2023 - Saturday in the 8th Week in Ordinary Time
[Sir 51:12cd-20 and Mark 11:27-33]When I was young and innocent, I sought wisdom openly in my prayer. I prayed for her before the temple, and I will seek her until the end, and she flourished as a grape soon ripe. My heart delighted in her, my feet kept to the level path because from earliest youth I was familiar with her. In the short time I paid heed, I met with great instruction. [Sirach]
I have spent a majority of my 52 years as an ordained Dominican friar in ministry to college students. Their dreams, hopes, challenges and tears have been the stuff and, for me, the fulfillment of my life. But it has not been just a one-way street. Wisdom is where one finds her and students have been my teachers and professors every day that I have spent in campus ministry. They have helped me to shape the kinds of questions that I can ask when they come to see me. The one major question I ask is: What is the wisest and healthiest way forward? In this, I can only point to the Holy Spirit, speaking to me in the lives of students I have known, in making suggestions.
The Book of Sirach notes in today's first scripture the benefits of developing a habit in youth of seeking wisdom before deciding on a course of action. I am put in mind of Robert Fulghum's great little classic: ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN! I once was asked to speak to a class of third graders about wisdom. I started by asking who could tell me what wisdom is, and was promptly put in my place by a kid who responded: "KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM EXPERIENCE!" That kid showed a lot of promise!!!
Wisdom, in written form, can be found in all cultures and ages and religious beliefs, but, as a matter of faith, I can see the Holy Spirit at work when I see the recognition in a student's face, often through tears, of the wisest and healthiest way forward. AMEN