at Christ’s cross, understand its significance, and start to be
consistent with it.
This is the kind of wisdom every believer and follower of
Christ should have. It’s not enough to have the wisdom of this world,
no matter how practical that may be, nor the wisdom of the flesh, no
matter how mind-blowing, much less the wisdom of words, no matter how
clever.
The wisdom of the cross is first a gift of the Holy Spirit
to us before it becomes a virtue in us. Since it’s a gift, we have to
pray for it constantly. Since it’s a gift that needs to be a virtue,
we have to cultivate and develop it also.
The wisdom of the cross is the most perfect gift,
embodying all the other spiritual gifts, since it completes charity by
infusing light and love into our soul.
With it we are able to discern God and divine things in
everything that we see and do. It gives us the appetite to relate
everything to God, linking us to God through the things of this world.
It goes beyond understanding and knowledge which enable us
to know divine and natural things in themselves and in their mutual
relations, but without necessarily relating them to God, their
ultimate cause.
These gifts and virtues do not automatically lead us to
love, since they fall short of bringing us to God who is love, as St.
John said so succinctly. It’s wisdom that does that. Wisdom makes us
into contemplative souls, seeing and loving God in everything.
With this definition of wisdom, it can be said that it’s
hardly seen around, since it is clear that reference to God is
scarcely done in the things we do. We think, reason out, speak, act
and behave often by ourselves, without God.
But it can reside deep in our hearts, not visible to our
senses and our worldly ways. As the Book of Wisdom says: “In each
generation wisdom passes into holy souls, she makes them friends of
God and prophets.” (7,27)
Saints and holy men and women have it, except that they
are not fond of showing it off. It is perceived only by those who have
the spirit in the manner spoken of by St. Paul:
“We have received not the spirit of this world, but the
Spirit that is of God, that we may know the things that are given us
by God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human
wisdom, but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things
with spiritual.
“The sensual man perceives not these things…for it is
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is
spiritually examined.” (1 Cor 2,12-14)
In cultivating and developing wisdom as a virtue in us, we
need to struggle against things like laziness, disorder, unhealthy
attachments, pride and all forms of sin. In fact, everything can be a
frontline in this struggle.
Thus, this wisdom has to be the wisdom of the cross, which
is the wisdom of Christ, since Christ showed the ultimate saving truth
and love, and shares these things with us up to now, by dying on the
cross.
We have to understand this supernatural truth with the
grace of God, otherwise we succumb to what St. Paul once said about
the crucified Christ:
“To the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles
foolishness. But to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor 1,23-24)
It’s this wisdom that provides us with the proper furnace
to forge our love for God and others, the acid test to probe the depth
and range of our grasp of the truth in love. It’s the running
conviction that everything gets resolved in the cross.
The wisdom of the cross goes much further than what our
intelligence and will can penetrate. It gives life and vitality to our
different human ways and structures, our cultural and personal ways.
As Saint Pope John Paul II once said: “The wisdom of the
Cross, therefore, breaks free of all cultural limitations which seek
to contain it and insists upon an openness to the universality of the
truth which it bears.” (Fides et ratio, 23)
Let’s learn this wisdom of the cross by conforming our
thoughts and desires, our whole life, to Christ crucified, studying,
praying, meditating on his words, and slowly and steadily assimilating
his example into our life! May that wisdom be the flesh of our flesh!
consistent with it.
This is the kind of wisdom every believer and follower of
Christ should have. It’s not enough to have the wisdom of this world,
no matter how practical that may be, nor the wisdom of the flesh, no
matter how mind-blowing, much less the wisdom of words, no matter how
clever.
The wisdom of the cross is first a gift of the Holy Spirit
to us before it becomes a virtue in us. Since it’s a gift, we have to
pray for it constantly. Since it’s a gift that needs to be a virtue,
we have to cultivate and develop it also.
The wisdom of the cross is the most perfect gift,
embodying all the other spiritual gifts, since it completes charity by
infusing light and love into our soul.
With it we are able to discern God and divine things in
everything that we see and do. It gives us the appetite to relate
everything to God, linking us to God through the things of this world.
It goes beyond understanding and knowledge which enable us
to know divine and natural things in themselves and in their mutual
relations, but without necessarily relating them to God, their
ultimate cause.
These gifts and virtues do not automatically lead us to
love, since they fall short of bringing us to God who is love, as St.
John said so succinctly. It’s wisdom that does that. Wisdom makes us
into contemplative souls, seeing and loving God in everything.
With this definition of wisdom, it can be said that it’s
hardly seen around, since it is clear that reference to God is
scarcely done in the things we do. We think, reason out, speak, act
and behave often by ourselves, without God.
But it can reside deep in our hearts, not visible to our
senses and our worldly ways. As the Book of Wisdom says: “In each
generation wisdom passes into holy souls, she makes them friends of
God and prophets.” (7,27)
Saints and holy men and women have it, except that they
are not fond of showing it off. It is perceived only by those who have
the spirit in the manner spoken of by St. Paul:
“We have received not the spirit of this world, but the
Spirit that is of God, that we may know the things that are given us
by God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human
wisdom, but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things
with spiritual.
“The sensual man perceives not these things…for it is
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is
spiritually examined.” (1 Cor 2,12-14)
In cultivating and developing wisdom as a virtue in us, we
need to struggle against things like laziness, disorder, unhealthy
attachments, pride and all forms of sin. In fact, everything can be a
frontline in this struggle.
Thus, this wisdom has to be the wisdom of the cross, which
is the wisdom of Christ, since Christ showed the ultimate saving truth
and love, and shares these things with us up to now, by dying on the
cross.
We have to understand this supernatural truth with the
grace of God, otherwise we succumb to what St. Paul once said about
the crucified Christ:
“To the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles
foolishness. But to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor 1,23-24)
It’s this wisdom that provides us with the proper furnace
to forge our love for God and others, the acid test to probe the depth
and range of our grasp of the truth in love. It’s the running
conviction that everything gets resolved in the cross.
The wisdom of the cross goes much further than what our
intelligence and will can penetrate. It gives life and vitality to our
different human ways and structures, our cultural and personal ways.
As Saint Pope John Paul II once said: “The wisdom of the
Cross, therefore, breaks free of all cultural limitations which seek
to contain it and insists upon an openness to the universality of the
truth which it bears.” (Fides et ratio, 23)
Let’s learn this wisdom of the cross by conforming our
thoughts and desires, our whole life, to Christ crucified, studying,
praying, meditating on his words, and slowly and steadily assimilating
his example into our life! May that wisdom be the flesh of our flesh!
No comments:
Post a Comment