In Wisdom is a spirit
intelligent, holy, unique,
Manifold, subtle, agile,
clear, unstained, certain,
Not baneful, loving the good, keen,
unhampered, beneficent, kindly,
Firm, secure, tranquil,
all-powerful, all-seeing,
And pervading all spirits,
though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.
For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion,
and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.
For she is an aura of the might of God
and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nought that is sullied enters into her.
For she is the refulgence of eternal light,
the spotless mirror of the power of God,
the image of his goodness.
And she, who is one, can do all things,
and renews everything while herself perduring;
And passing into holy souls from age to age,
she produces friends of God and prophets.
For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom.
For she is fairer than the sun
and surpasses every constellation of the stars.
Compared to light, she takes precedence;
for that, indeed, night supplants,
but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.
Indeed, she reaches from end to end mightily
and governs all things well.
-Wis 7:22b–8:1
Today’s first reading is one of those beautiful passages from a book of the Bible that I never knew existed until I became Catholic. The Book of Wisdom was removed from the Protestant Bible. I honestly do not know why. It has become one of my favorite books.
The question that begs though is, what is Wisdom? In our time, we have access to all the accumulated recorded knowledge of mankind at the tap of a screen. But, do we have Wisdom? This morning I received Joel Salatin’s newsletter. He is a Protestant natural farming entrepreneur and a brilliant guy. He shared some stats from the CDC that show the average life expectancy of Americans began to decline in a marked way around 2019. That information does not include, essentially, the COVID era. When that information becomes available it will have to adjust for the deaths due to COVID just as one would for wars or another epidemic. But, since then, we have seen a dramatic rise in drug overdoses, suicide and “excess mortality”, that may be related to vaccine injury…. and I expect the data to be much worse.
The bottom line is, we are supposed to be advancing, but as America has drifted further and further from the moorings of Christian traditions, we have seen the family nearly destroyed, crime rates increasing exponentially and an epidemic of despair. If we included the abortion numbers, and the 200 million or so killed by socialist/communist/liberal governments in the last century, it would become clear that we may live in the most violent and terrible era of human history.
Fr. Spirago was amazingly prescient when he wrote around 1900:
….perfect happiness is impossible on earth; for no man can entirely avoid suffering.
The end of the worldling is misery as we have seen, and the just man is persecuted. No one can escape sickness, suffering, death. The world is a valley of tears; it is a big hospital, containing as many sick men as there are human beings. The world is a place of banishment, where we are far from our true country. In the world good and ill fortune succeed each other like sunshine and storm. Prosperity is the sure forerunner of adversity. In life we are on a sea, now lifted up to heaven, now cast down to hell. Society is always sure to be full of all kinds of miseries, whatever efforts may be made to improve the condition of mankind. Vain indeed are the hopes of the modern school of social democrats who dream of gradually abolishing all evil and misery from the world.
… The knowledge of God is all-important, for without it there cannot be any happiness on earth, or a well-ordered life.
The knowledge of God is the food of our soul. Without it the soul feels hungry; we become discontented. He who does not possess interior peace, cannot enjoy riches, health, or any of the goods of this life; they all become distasteful to him. Yet few think about this food of the soul; they busy themselves, as Our Lord says, with the " meat that perishes" (John vi. 27). Without the knowledge of God a man is like one who walks in the dark, and stumbles at every step; he has no end or aim in life, no consolation in misfortune, and no hope in death. He cannot have any solid or lasting happiness, or any true contentment. Without a knowledge of God a well-ordered life is impossible. Just as an untilled field produces no good fruit, so a man who has not the knowledge of God can produce no good works. Ignorance and forgetfulness of God are the causes of most of the sins that men commit. Rash and false oaths, neglect of the service of God and of the sacraments, the love of gold, the sinful indulgence of the passions, are all due to willful ignorance and forgetfulness of God. Thus the prophet Osee exclaims " There is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed" (Osee iv. 2, 3). And St. Ignatius of Loyola cries out, " O God, Thou joy of my soul, if only men knew Thee, they never would offend Thee," and experience shows that in the jails the greater part of the prisoners are those who knew nothing of God. When Frederick of Prussia at length recognized that the want of the knowledge of God was the cause of the increase in crime, he exclaimed, " Then I will have religion introduced into the country." This is why the learning and the understanding of the Catechism, which is nothing else than an abridgement of the Christian religion, is all important. But a mere knowledge of the truths of religion is not sufficient; they must also be practiced.
We arrive at a right knowledge of God through faith in the truths which God has revealed.
It is true that by means of reason and from the contemplation of the creatures that God has made man can arrive at a knowledge of God (Rom. i. 20). " The heavens show forth the glory of God" (Ps. xviii. 2). But our reason is so weak and prone to err, that without revelation it is very difficult for man to attain to a clear and correct knowledge of God. What strange and perverted views of the Deity we find among heathen nations (Cf. Wisd. ix. 16, 17). God therefore in His mercy comes to our aid with revelation. Through believing the truths that God has revealed, man attains to a clear and correct knowledge of God. Hence St. Anselm says, " The more I am nourished with the food of faith, the more my understanding is satisfied." Faith is a divine light that shines in our souls (2 Cor. iv. 6). It is like a watch tower, from which we can see that which cannot be seen from the plain below ; we learn respecting God that which cannot be learned by mere reason from the world around. It is a glass through which we perceive all the divine perfections. It is a staff which supports our feeble reason, and enables it to know God better. There are two books from which we gain a knowledge of God ; the book of Nature, and Holy Scripture, which is the book of revelation.
We can learn a lot from books, especially good Catholic books. However, Wisdom is more often found through quiet contemplation and prayer. For me, Adoration of the Eucharist and spending time in nature are almost twin pillars. In both, I pray the Rosary and other prayers. In Adoration, I spend time with God under the form of bread. In nature, I spend time with God and see Him reflected all around me through His creation. Neither are a substitute for receiving the Eucharist in the Mass. But, it is in those still, quiet, contemplative times that I seem to understand things better, find peace and realize the divine order of things. I am not a wise man. But, this is my taste of Wisdom, something that the mind cannot fathom, nor words express. It is the well that refreshes me. I cannot express it like a saint might, but it is as if the seed of the Eucharist is planted and prayer waters it, but especially in these times it flowers or fruits.
I have had more profound revelations while fishing than in studying. I can’t find the author or the quote, but when we go to the woods or the water we often come back with a peace we were not even seeking. When we go to Adoration, we find even more. But, I have never been one to be inside very long. I thank God that He also provided for those of us who long to be outside the walls and for whom the structure of (formally) religious life would be unbearable!
Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is Available in paperback on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK
His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic