Friday of the Second Week in Advent, December 15, 2006

Scripture: Isaiah 48:17-19. Psalm 1:1-6. Matthew 11:16-19

"The Wisdom of God is Christ Himself." This sentence is at the end of the commentary on Matthew's Gospel for our passage from the Gospel that is treating of the time and advent of the Messiah. It comes from Dom Henry Wansbrough, O.S.B. Professor of Scripture at Ampleforth Abbey, York, England. He and I were classmates at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome (1964-67). Now he is on the Pontical Biblical Commission. I began my meditation with the theme of God's wisdom and I was delighted to find that last comment of Fr. Wanbrough. In reflecting upon the meaning of wisdom, I saw that making correct choices is part of this virtue. We all have to do that each day and sometimes there are choices that are life long choices --- marriage, single state, religious life, etc. Wisdom also comes with age and our practical day-in and day-out experiences. The Gospel is developing the theme of right choices through Jesus' use of an interesting parable about children singing and playing, but those who are invited to join them do not enter their creative game. If we enter the parable we would have to sit down and start singing and playing with the children. This is what makes us enter their world of pretending, creating, and just plain having fun. It happened to me the other day at a Dayton Christian Jewish Dialogue. I asked the youngest child about the Christmas tree and whether he could show me how he runs his little train. After that, I had a child who kept explaining more and more to me about the tree. Later his mother, the president of the dialogue, would talk about the meaning of the tree in their house and how many decisions were made about it and who would have his or her lights on the tree. Returning to the parable and Jesus' purpose in telling it seems to be that neither John the Baptist nor Jesus Himself is listened to in their messages about the Messianic Age and the Kingdom of God. The responses against both of them are contradictory and show me that no matter whatever John did or Jesus did or said, it would not matter to those who refused to listen and enter the game of their life. They made bad choices by not acting. Not to act is a choice and it was a bad one. We, too, are involved in such a dynamic when we do not exercise correct judgment about issues and persons. We end up making a bad choice of action or say something stupid that hurts our neighbor. Still the message of the Gospel comes to us each day and we can make a good choice about what it is saying to us. Jesus ends today's lesson saying, "...time will prove where wisdom lies." (Matthew 11:19). I think it lies in Jesus Himself. Then in turning to the Psalm and its response, the same theme of wisdom comes to mind. Psalm 1 is a wisdom Psalm which opens us up to the rest of the 149 Psalms. I like to come back often to Psalm 1 in its marvelous simplicity about the two ways. It is a choice type of Psalm about choosing the right way. We are encouraged in the first part of this Psalm to mull things over and to ponder before making a good choice. This demands the attentiveness of prayer of the heart--a listening heart. Then we will have the light of life-- God's light seen in the person of Jesus who is the Light of the world. Fr. Wansbrough is right : "The Wisdom of God is Christ Himself."