Wisdom is a talent that has lost its luster in the world today as we have become so accustomed to talking heads and 140-character statements that in their smugness tell us exactly what to do with our attitudes. The result of this is that we don't know what true wisdom really is and don't know how to deal with it when we find it.
Solomon asked for the gift of Wisdom above even wealth or power, realizing that through Wisdom we are able to do so much more than with money or power. Do we really believe that? Do we really think that the post important thing we can pursue is the knowledge of the Lord? The Wisdom of what God wants for us at a given moment?
This is not to be confused with "counsel" which is the understanding of what is good for someone else, even though everyone "thinks" they know what is good for someone else. The gift of Wisdom is that ability to know what the Lord wants for us to do at any given moment. It is the ability to look at all of the options and see where God is leading us.
You may, at this point of the Challenge, feel that God is pushing you towards a need that you see in your community. Perhaps there is a ministry that you are uniquely called for that you should be doing. Maybe God is opening up His wisdom for you for your marriage and how to make it better. Perhaps God is giving you the wisdom to discern what to do for the right job.
God wants you to have this gift.
God wants to give you the wisdom to know Him and His will for you in your life. If you have a multitude of talents but don't do anything with them, or limit them to what you THINK you should be doing, then you are limiting God. You are actually limiting your own talents. You are not allowing yourself to become the very being that God created you to be.
You are stuck becoming the type of person you think you should be.
And your plans are never as big, as grand, or as profound as the Creator. He knows your gifts. He knows what you can do in your life. Yet time and again we try to restrict God to what is comfortable for us. We think we are doing God's will without praying for the wisdom to know what God's will is for us.
"But you don't understand, I have this desire to do 'x', 'y', and 'z'."
That's nice that you have those desires and I am not discounting that perhaps those desires are good and perhaps those desires are from God, but if you are not praying about them, if you are not offering them to God then you are missing out on perhaps something bigger. Perhaps a way that you can use those gifts that you have not considered yet.
This is why the gift of Wisdom follows up on sloth. We can not be apathetic and desire the wisdom, the will of God. We cannot act with true justice unless we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We cannot begin to know what that means unless we are willing to accept the gift of wisdom in our own lives.
Too many times the idea of a Christian or a Catholic knowing better than someone else or another group has turned someone off to the idea of being a Christian.
"I would become a Christian if I liked what it did for people. As I look around I see a bunch of people who look down their noses, thinking they know better than everyone else."
Wisdom recognizes that we do not know better. Wisdom recognizes that only the will of God, the intellect of God is the supreme knowledge.
Wisdom allows God to be God and the rest to fall into place.
Wisdom requires humility.
Wisdom requires discernment.
Wisdom requires righteous justice.
The wise would never look down on someone else because they recognize that compared to God, there is not much of a difference between the two of them. The gap between the person next to you and God and yourself and God is the same.
It is infinity.
Perhaps in that knowledge lies the greatest wisdom.
The wisdom of knowing that our God is mightier than our differences, mightier than our inadequacies. Asking of us bigger things than we can ever imagine.
I pray we have the wisdom for it.
Questions for Reflection:
- Who in your life do you consider wise? List some of the qualities that go into the all-encompassing title of "wise".
- In your own life, do you need wisdom? How do you currently discern what it is the Lord wants from you or wants you to do?
- What are some gifts that you have? How do you use them? How might the Lord be causing you to use them in a way that is bigger than you currently think?
- Why does it seem that the person who is the most wise is the person who is the most humble? How are those tied in together?
- What are some concrete things that you can do today in your pursuit of wisdom?
- Make a list of the gifts that you have, the talents that God has given you. Then make another list of the ways that God wants you to use those gifts. List three ways that you can live each of those gifts outside of what is comfortable for you.
- Seek advice from someone that you trust about your gifts. How might you be able to use them to benefit more people?
- Take a moment each day and pray for the gift of wisdom. Recognize that God is going to give you the opportunity to practice that gift. Make a note of when that opportunity arises.
- Write out a plan of discernment for yourself. How do you approach decisions? If prayer is not involved, involve it. Use that plan on a consistent basis for the week.
- Take on a challenge this week (intellectually) that you wouldn't normally. This may be reading a book your wouldn't normally read or getting into an intellectual conversation that you would consider "out of your league." Allow yourself to learn and perhaps be guided by someone wiser than you.
Pray the Lectio Divina at some point in the day.
Psalm 51:12 (pray in the morning)
Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
O My Jesus (pray at noon)
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy.
Divine Praises (pray in the evening)
Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Blessed be the name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His Saints.
May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.
Come Holy Spirit (before making a decision)
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth.
Oh God, who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in that same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in his consolation. Through the same Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
