Time for Wisdom

Wednesday of the 7^th Week in Ordinary Time

Sirach 7:14-19

The elementary school I attended was next to a large building my friends and I used to call “the old folks home.” As I’d watch them walk in and out of there, I remember wondering why they moved so slowly and carefully. I mean, what’s the big deal? You fall down some stairs, you get up and keep going, right?

Yeah, right. Being one of the “old folks” now, I’ve learned the wisdom of being careful. Sure, as a kid, you fall and in a couple of hours it’s like nothing ever happened. But when you’re one of the old folks, it’s more like a couple of weeks – maybe a couple of months. If you can get up at all!

Time has a way of teaching us some very important things, sometimes painfully. For example, as we grew up, we learned that the things in life most worth having – like love, security, peace, and good health – take discipline. They require hard work, sacrifice, and maybe some trial and error as well.

It’s the same with wisdom, as we heard in Sirach. A gift of God, wisdom takes a long time to acquire and can be hard to appreciate. No wonder why; as the author describes it, wisdom comes as a stranger, tests us with trials, and brings fear and dread. Doesn’t sound like much of a gift! And, if we leave it there, it isn’t. But, if we submit to its discipline and persist in faith that God works in ways we do not yet understand, wisdom will bring us happiness, reveal secrets to us, heap upon us treasures of knowledge, and give us an understanding of justice (Sirach 4:17-18).

Clearly, persistence is the hard part, and it doesn’t get easier as we age. We might think that when we’re older, the tests and trials will be behind us. After all, we’ve lived a long time, endured many of them, and learned a lot. But the truth is that God is never finished with us; He continues to shape us at every stage of life. Young or old, our faith is always being tested and refined.

So, let us remember today that in God’s eyes, we’re never done learning, growing in wisdom, or trusting in Him. Instead of resisting the trials that come our way, let’s try to look at them as a sign of God’s infinite love for us, and His desire to perfect our soul. And let us pray that no matter how challenging it is to do, we remain open to the wisdom of God, trusting that every day He is conforming us to Himself, and that as long as we continue to seek Him, He will never stop seeking us.

Even if we’re “old folks.”

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