Wisdom and works

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today initially inspire thoughts of peace complemented by images of life giving water. These very passages have also been controversially interpreted over time. Contemplation with controversy leads us to consider seeking Divine Wisdom for peace in our time. The peace of the prosperity and vindication is described by the Prophet Isaiah. The Wisdom of Jesus is declared in the Gospel from Matthew. Rev’d Karen Kousseff explains the shalom of Isaiah 48 as she recalls Pope Francis visit to New York.

There’s a beautiful song you may know, that begins: “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me” (written in 1955 by Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller). It was performed just the other day (Friday 25th September) at the close of an interfaith service led by Pope Francis at Ground Zero, the 9/11 memorial in New York. Alongside leaders of Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish faiths, Pope Francis wanted this gathering to be seen as a sign of their shared desire to be instruments of reconciliation, peace and justice. “For all our differences and disagreements,” he said, “we can live in a world of peace … Peace in our homes, our families, our schools and our communities. Peace in all those places where war never seems to end.” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/25/pope-francis-ground-zero-new-york-peace

Chas Kestermeier, S.J. comments that we are able to do so... produce fruit (like the images in Psalm 1) only because we have that almost invisible but radically necessary support from our God that we call “grace” – if we open ourselves to it.

To cut to the chase: are we like the tree of the psalm?  God has planted us in the time and place that he thought best for us, gave us just the gifts that he thought we would need, and wants us to flourish and to bear fruit for others as a regular event – and I would dare to say that he expects or at least hopes for fruit from us both in season and out (2 Timothy 4:2; Mark 11:12-14).  We are able to do so only because we have that almost invisible but radically necessary support from our God that we call “grace” – if we open ourselves to it.

Rev. Cheryl L. Hauer, International Development Director at  Bridges for peace makes the case for Psalm 145 as the “psalm of psalms” but she ties it to a militaristic connection to Psalm 144.

The USCCB commentary on the Gospel notes the meaning of the parable (Mt 11:16–17) and its explanation (Mt 11:18–19b) is much disputed.

* [11:16–19] See Lk 7:31–35. The meaning of the parable (Mt 11:16–17) and its explanation (Mt 11:18–19b) is much disputed. A plausible view is that the children of the parable are two groups, one of which proposes different entertainments to the other that will not agree with either proposal. The first represents John, Jesus, and their disciples; the second those who reject John for his asceticism and Jesus for his table association with those despised by the religiously observant. Mt 11:19c (her works) forms an inclusion with Mt 11:2 (“the works of the Messiah”). The original form of the saying is better preserved in Lk 7:35 “…wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” There John and Jesus are the children of Wisdom; here the works of Jesus the Messiah are those of divine Wisdom, of which he is the embodiment. Some important textual witnesses, however, have essentially the same reading as in Luke.

Christen Forster comments that Jesus connects himself with Wisdom in Matt 11:19 by quoting from the inter-testamental book of Ecclesiasticus: “Wisdom is vindicated by all her children”.

Interestingly many of the moral principles taught by Jesus as a teacher come from the 5 Wisdom books in the middle of the Old Testament. The table below highlights the idea embodied by the Beatitudes in Psalms and Proverbs.

The Everyday Thomist, a graduate student at Boston College, has a worldview that is decidedly Thomistic.

Rather, I think that Jesus is presenting an understanding of wisdom much like Thomas Aquinas’.  Wisdom is about both conformity to the law, and about the disposition of the person acting.  The conclusion of his wisdom teachings on the Sermon on the Mount, therefore, may be found in Matthew 7:17-20: “by their fruits you will know them.”  The wisdom of Jesus is about being a certain person, a person who not only does the right things, but does the right things for the right reason.  Jesus’ wisdom teachings, above all, are about being: “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.”

Friar Jude Winkler explains how Isaiah describes the return of the exiles from Babylon as a Second Exodus where they are instructed to harken to the commandments and their peace will be like a river as God heals the wounds of their hearts.
People not accepting Jesus message were so filled with themselves and their ideas they were not willing to surrender, to be surprised, and to encounter God’s revelation in their lives, Friar Jude suggests as a reminder to us.

Fr. Stephen Freeman clarifies our ideas about humility and self-emptying.

Humility and self-emptying are not the loss of self but the gaining of a true self (where self is understood to be synonymous with “life”). I often marvel at discussions of over-population. Ignoring the Malthusian nightmares of various Cassandras, I find that we are only crowded because there is not enough room for “false selves.” The world is hardly big enough for a single false self. However, love always has room. It is how God can be everywhere present and filling all things and yet have room for us.
Is there any room at the inn?

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, discusses Loving Our Neighbor with a few quotes from theologian Sallie McFague.

[W]hile other fields contributing to solving our planetary crises often end their studies with the despairing remark, “Of course, it is a spiritual, an ethical problem,” the religions of the world should offer their distinctive answer: “Yes, it is, and let us look at the process of change from belief to action.”
The new model of the universal self operates at both the personal and public levels, for instance in the planetary house rules: (1) take only your share; (2) clean up after yourself; (3) keep the house in good repair for those who will use it after you.

Peace on the earth may begin with me. The works that show the Wisdom of the children of God will involve living as described in the Beatitudes and even more specifically applying the Ancient Wisdom to current crisis by a self emptying of generosity to others and decisions to obey the planetary house rules.