Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary time-A
There is an epidemic of hubris running wild in the world today. It is an environment in which subjective truth, even if false, is put forth as truth. The problem stems from a lack of gratefulness and humility. In the modern mind, knowledge passed down from one generation to the next is viewed as outdated and, in many cases, flatly wrong. The insanity that flips centuries of understanding on its head and puts forward policies contrary to natural law and the teaching of God is prevalent in all areas of intellectual disciplines.
It is not that we are talking about illiterate people, as was the case in past history when the masses were uneducated. With so many having formal education, it begs the question as to how people can accept that a baby killed in the womb is not murder or that a person’s gender can be changed at will, and the surrendering of one’s freedom to the power of the state.
Although the questions are perplexing, their answers are relatively simple and given to us by Jesus. He tells his disciples. “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.” In this short sentence, Jesus instructs us that there is a significant difference between an educated person and one who has wisdom. Wisdom, therefore, is the ability for a person to recognize God’s objective truth and live by its precepts. He mentions that these people are the “little ones,” not in stature or age, but in innocence and in a will to accept His message as the truth.
Instilled in every person created is the ability to know, at least in a rudimentary way, the objective truth of God through his reason and conscience. Right reason demands that, following the dictates of natural law and one’s conscience, one can know objective truth. Admittedly, to better understand the mystery of God, some formal training is required; however, that is not, per se, wisdom. Wisdom is recognizing the truth and goodness and rejecting anything that is in opposition to it.
A great example of the concept comes from the story of St. Maria Goretti (Feast Day, July 6), one of the youngest canonized saints. At twelve years old, she was a farmgirl living in poverty and not formally educated. She refused to be sexually violated by an eighteen-year-old who was living with her family. For St. Maria, acquiescing to his advances and wishes would mean a grave and mortal sin, something she would not commit. Enraged by her response, the assailant stabbed her fourteen times until she died. St. Maria used the gifts God gave her to know and follow his truth, even to her death. As a saint, she has gained infinitely more than she would have by trying to save her earthly life.
Not everyone is as virtuous as St. Maria, and knowing the truth and living by it can be difficult, especially in a sinful world. What we can learn from St. Maria is that the prerequisite for wisdom is first an openness to God’s graces. If this step is ignored or rejected, then wisdom cannot flourish. Apart from God, human cognition will always go down the path of perversion.
A disciple is granted more opportunities to attain wisdom through His Church. In baptism and confirmation, God has given us His Spirit to know and act on his truth even more clearly. The Spirit guides and informs us of the path we must pursue to attain the good and of the strength to act on it. None of this requires any of the formal education offered by the supposed wise and learned.
One of the most important tasks of a disciple is to humble yourself to become a “little one” Jesus refers to. It demands an honest examination of our pride and acknowledges that what we truly know comes from God. This is wisdom, and it is lacking in many because they refuse to honor the source of objective truth, God himself. No formal education or number of degrees can ever substitute for wisdom.
Let’s all start tamping down our pride and hubris and work at becoming better “little ones”.
[Pope Pius XII’s homily on the canonization of St. Maria Goretti ]