23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Give Me Wisdom)

How do you discern the matters of your life? Whether to take a promotion with whatever it additional demands it will place on you; Whether to move your family; Whether to marry; Whether to try and make amends to a damaged relationship; Whether to start a program that will benefit you either physically or spiritually. In what ways do you discern your life and the path of your existence on more transcendent terms?

          Today's readings speak about discernment. We heard it first from the Book of Wisdom. I remind you that in our Bible there is a section of books, as we categorize them, that are known as the wisdom literature. While Solomon is the biblical figure that we associate with this wisdom, it's not likely that he is author of all of these texts. I should also explain that when we speak of biblical wisdom, we are not referring to simply head knowledge. Wisdom in the biblical sense is understood as an attribute of God that is given to us, to give us His way of seeing things as a source of decision making and moving through the course of our lives.

If we go back to the verses that precede what we hear in today’s reading from the Book of Wisdom, we hear the authors plea for the wisdom of God to be a help and guiding support. “Give me Wisdom….Send her forth from your holy heavens and from your glorious throne dispatch her, that she may be with me and work with me, that I may know what is pleasing to you” (Wisdom 9:4-10).

          Then in the verses that follow, as we hear today, the author says that without Wisdom that comes from God to guide us, we are left floundering, that we are inclined to get sidetracked and to let the cares of life get in the way.

I believe God would let us into His way of seeing and even desires to share it with us, but it’s a slower way in, a way that demands patience and effort. Not just crashing-in and not nearly as simple as saying, “Hey Siri…” or “Hey Google…”. And because it’s not so simple, quick or easy, perhaps it’s true that too many of us don’t sufficiently discern and thus, we tend to simply drift and are left feeling un-rooted. We may not feel the sense of drifting, because we're so focused on trying to react to everything that's happening. We may not feel the sense of being un-rooted, because our lives are so filled up with arbitrary things that we don't even have time to be introspective.

It makes me think of a saint whose feast day we celebrated recently: St. Augustine. In his heartfelt autobiography, the Confessions, he walks us through his wandering desire for wisdom, which after so long, he eventually found in God.

          “I entered under your guidance into the inmost depth of my soul…On entering into myself I saw, as it were with the eye of the soul…your immutable light. It was not the ordinary light….No it was something entirely distinct…Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!…You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all…You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness….” (Lib. 7, 10, 18; 10, 27: CSEL 33, 157-163, 255)

That slower way in that I mentioned a moment ago is through giving oneself space and time to intentionally ask for that wisdom which gives way to discernment, and to begin exploring it. But more than space or time, we can benefit greatly from the use of a private journal and a pen. Maybe once a week, giving ourselves a holy hour in which we begin by asking the basic questions about our lives, what we’re discerning. Maybe even asking—as we do well to ask each day—What do you want of me, God? What is Your will for my life? What do you want to reveal to me about myself? Then, asking what fears it brings, and making note of them. Asking what excites or attracts us and again, writing it down. Then discern these fears and attractions, and begin to slowly explore them, and try to find what’s driving them.

          With this same journal, we can re-visit these workings of the heart, slowly peeling the onion, going deeper, and making more notes about the questions, the fears, the attractions, as they emerge from the heart into consciousness.

          The author of the Book of Wisdom ponders: “Who can know God's counsel, or who can conceive what the LORD intends?…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.”

So, how do you go about discerning the matters of your life? So many great spiritual giants have told us, from their own experiences and their writings: God invites us into the place where Wisdom and His will for our life can be found, but it requires entering the mystery. It demands our humility, our silence, our patience, and our effort.