Wisdom assesses action

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today remind us that the gift of Wisdom invites us to see the world around us through the eyes of God even as that viewpoint requires us to be transformed in our perceptions of reality.

Wisdom to see deeper

The Book of Sirach teaches that Wisdom is developed by her discipline (Sirach 4.17).

* [4:11–19] The Hebrew text in vv. 15–19 presents wisdom speaking in the first person, as in chap. 24. The precious fruits of wisdom—life, favor, glory, blessings, God’s love—arouse desire for her (vv. 11–14). Her disciples are like ministers (v. 14) and judges (v. 15), whose descendants have her for their heritage (v. 16). They enjoy happiness and learn her secrets after surviving her tests (vv. 17–18). Those who fail her are abandoned to destruction (v. 19).1 

In the Gospel from Mark Jesus disciples seek His Wisdom in how to deal with another exorcist not from their group.

* [9:38–41] Jesus warns against jealousy and intolerance toward others, such as exorcists who do not follow us. The saying in Mk 9:40 is a broad principle of the divine tolerance. Even the smallest courtesies shown to those who teach in Jesus’ name do not go unrewarded.2 

Susan Naatz believes that mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters and women in general throughout the history of humankind have shared their wisdom and breathed life into our human condition over and over again. Through them we have received life-giving breath from God.

Wisdom is frequently referred to in scripture in feminine terms.  Thanks to the wisdom figures in my own life, it has always been easy for me to image wisdom as feminine and this image has often taken my prayer to a very deep place… As Sirach invites us to pray and meditate on the feminine aspects of wisdom, let us imagine a special woman in our lives either past or present who has breathed life into us through her wisdom.3 

Don Schwager quotes “Encouraging good works done in Christ,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

 "We ought not be disturbed because some who do not belong or do not yet belong to this temple, that is, among whom God does not or does not yet dwell, perform some works of power, as happened to the one who cast out devils in the name of Christ (Mark 9:38, Luke 9:49). Although he was not a follower of Christ, Christ ordered that he be allowed to continue because it gave a valuable testimony of his name to many... The centurion Cornelius also saw the angel that was sent to him to say that his prayers had been heard and his alms accepted (Acts 10:3-4), even before he was incorporated into this temple by regeneration." (excerpt from  LETTER 187, TO DARDANUS 36)4

The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 9:38-40 declares that Jesus’ name is truly “the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9). His authority to dispel evil and darkness is not just reserved for him alone.

You have been baptized into his name, and that means you can call on that name. He has placed his name in your heart, so call on it!
“Jesus, may your name be ever on my heart and lips.”5 

Friar Jude Winkler observes that the gift of Wisdom to see, like God, the spiritual intent in things does not come easily. The one outside the group may be shunned even when God is working there. Friar Jude notes that the authority given by Jesus to minister to others is not a monopoly but a service.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that Paul summarizes his corporate understanding of salvation with his shorthand phrase “en Cristo,” using it more than any single phrase in all of his letters (over 100 times). En Cristo seems to be Paul’s code phrase for the gracious, participatory experience of salvation “from the beginning” (see Ephesians 1:3-12), the path that he so urgently wanted to share with the world. Succinctly put, this identity means humanity has never been separate from God—unless and except by its own negative choice. All of us, without exception, are living inside of a cosmic identity, already in place, that is drawing and guiding us forward. We are all en Cristo, willingly or unwillingly, happily or unhappily, consciously or unconsciously.

Every single creature—the teen mother nursing her child, every one of the twenty thousand species of butterflies, an immigrant living in fear, a blade of grass, you reading this meditation—all are “in Christ” and “chosen from the beginning” (Ephesians 1:3-4, 9-10). What else could they be? Salvation for Paul is an ontological and cosmological message (which is solid) before it ever becomes a moral or psychological one (which is always unstable). Pause and give that some serious thought.6 

The struggle to accept the Wisdom of the unity in Christ of all is part of the difficult discipline that we experience on our journey for truth, beauty, and Love.

References

1	(n.d.). Sirach chapter 4 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Retrieved February 27, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/Sirach/4:11
2	(n.d.). Mark, chapter 9. Retrieved February 27, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/mark/9:38
3	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved February 27, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
4	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 27, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
5	(2019, February 27). 7th Week in Ordinary Time - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved February 27, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/02/27/
6	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archives — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 27, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/02/