The Best is Yet to Come!

The message in today's readings from the Book of Wisdom (6:12-16) and the Gospel of Matthew (25:1-13) is about the need for us to cultivate wisdom and listen to its lessons.

a homily by Fr. Brian Timoney
Christ the King Parish, Pleasant Hill, California, USA
32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

Four years ago, a good friend of mine was dying of cancer. A few weeks before her death I called, asking if it would be a good time to visit. She told me that she and her best friend were going to a small Deli for lunch and that I could join them there. We sat at a table and she asked to speak to the manager. "What could you provide for a reception after a funeral," was her question. "When is the funeral?" asked the manager. "The exact date has not yet been decided" was the answer. You should have seen the face of the manager as she realized to whom she was speaking. I don't think I have ever met anyone more prepared to meet Jesus than that friend of mine, both on the material and spiritual level. Her jar of oil was full. I will not easily forget that lesson. 

Wisdom is speaking to me and I am listening and learning. That is what the Scriptures are asking us to do today.

I may not be the only one who thinks that she/he is truly wise. I may believe that my advanced age and wispy white hair, my 61 years as a priest are signs that I have learned something over the years, that I can now make good judgments free from all bias. Alas, wisdom does not come with age or experience, or scholarship, or position in church or society. It comes, from being humble. St. Teresa of Avila said that humility is truth. Only God knows the absolute truth of everything and it is in God the Holy Spirit that truth abides, the wisdom that will help us to live well and look to the future, wisdom that will help us to make good decisions in situations where it is not easy to distinguish between wise and foolish, right and wrong. 

I am sure you recall the fruits of the Holy Spirit--wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and the fear of the Lord. In the Book of Wisdom today (6:12-16), we are urged to love and seek wisdom. That means being on the lookout for the presence of the Holy Spirit. It may manifest itself in the innocent utterance of a child, the good counsel of an experienced religious leader, the writings of scholars, but above all in the prayerful reading of Sacred Scripture. We have to open up our hearts and minds to the words of Jesus himself. In him the Spirit dwells in all fullness, we should be prepared to be guided by what we hear Jesus say, what we see him do. It may not be what we would like to see or hear, but it is the truth and we should pray for the humility necessary to accept that truth. Wisdom herself is speaking to us.

In praying  t h  e   Gospel passage f r o m   M a t t h e w   25: 1-13  today, it is quite clear that Wisdom is telling us to be prepared for the coming of Christ, that the summons to meet the bridegroom can come quite suddenly. I am keenly aware of this truth, given my advanced age. I am not the oldest member of this community, there are some in their nineties, but old enough to know that I should be stocking up on the oil that will keep my lamp burning until the bridegroom, Jesus, comes. No, I am not being morbid or paranoid, just realistic. Scripture calls it the oil of gladness and it is described by Jesus: "Whatever you do to the least of my sisters and brothers, you do to me." That is the oil we have to stock up on. That is the oil that burns brightest and, in doing so, most clearly shows the way to the wedding feast. Surely for us all, the wise thing to do is to have a full jar. This is ultimate wisdom, the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit, to have a stock of good deeds.

Last Monday, Frs. Paulson and Vince and I were at the funeral of one of our brother priest, Fr. Tony Herrera. Before the Mass began there was open casket and people were surprised and perhaps a little confused to see what Fr. Tony had in his hand as he lay in the casket. Not  Rosary beads, not a Bible, not a Cross. It was a fork! Yes, a dinner fork. Fr. Tony was a gourmet cook and, when he had friends to dinner and the main course finished, he would say: "Keep your fork, the best is yet to come." 

There he lay, in his casket, shouting out to all of us. "The best is yet to come, the wedding banquet is ready, be prepared." There, surely, was and is the greatest wisdom.

Let us all shout with him, "The best is yet to come!" 

"The best is yet to come!" 

Again, "The best is yet to come!”  

Amen

November 12, 2017

(c) 2017 Brian Timoney
All rights reserved

Can't Buy Wisdom--at any price

Note: With the Thanksgiving/Christmas Season upon us, everything will be for sale and much of that will be "on sale." One of the most important of our human needs is wisdom, which alone can bring us the joy and happiness we all say we want in life. The trouble is, we can't buy it at any price. But what is wisdom and how do we get it? The following is an excerpt from my book, The Wisdom of Les Miserables: Lessons From the Heart of Jean Valjean.

From various modern renditions of  wisdom, I have borrowed pieces and put them together in one statement that makes sense to me:

Wisdom is the ability, developed through experience, internal reflection and insight, to discern what is true and to exercise good judgment.

Let me share what this statement means to me.

.  .  .  ability developed through experience

Becoming wise requires that I commit myself to observing the human story as lived by those who preceded me on this planet. Analyzing that great body of experience, with its successes and failures, virtues and vices, I need to compare it to my  own unfolding story—my life circumstances, perceived problems, and decision-making processes. 

Victor Hugo steeped himself in the history of the human condition. The fact that his political leanings shifted over his lifetime might be viewed—and would be in the contemporary American scene—as vacillation and expediency. I prefer to think of it as a reflection of his hope that someone along the political spectrum, at some point in his lifetime, might eventually “get it right.” He understood well the terrible consequences for society’s marginalized populations—les miserables—of failure to learn from the mistakes of the past.

.  .  .  internal reflection

Based on what humanity has learned over time and what my own personal history and instincts reveal to me, I am called upon, at a given moment in time, to make the best evaluation of what I must do in similar historical circumstances. In other words, I assess what has worked in the past to my benefit and to the greater good of all—and what hasn’t.

Although Hugo’s personal habits and behaviors seemed eccentric at times, the author of Les Miserables possessed a rich interior life that combined personal faith in God and a keen desire to promote “liberty and justice for all.”

.  .  .  and insight

Based on my observation of history and reflection on its meaning, I gain creative insight to develop a plan for living a satisfied and productive life and promoting the welfare of those around me and the world at large.

In Les Miserables, particularly in the life of protagonist Jean Valjean, Victor Hugo drew a map for human living that, if followed, would create a more just, rational, and beautiful world than most human beings live in today.

The evil portrayed in the persons of Inspector Javert and the Thenardiers (innkeepers), and in the legal and penal systems of the author’s time, is a model of inhuman behavior. Hugo plunges his readers into the hell of these characters and institutions and their modern global counterparts (corporate greed, genocide, inter- and intra-religious slaughter, domestic poverty, homelessness, displaced refugees, etc.). Where does the list end?

.  .  .  to discern what is true and to exercise good judgment.

Experience, reflection, insight: these are essential ingredients in the search for and discernment of elusive truth. To the extent that truth is available and achievable, it leads me to sound judgment .  .  .  to wisdom. 

(c) 2013 by Alfred J. Garrotto

Alfred J. Garrotto is the author of the novel 

The Saint of Florenville: A Love Story

saintoflorenville.com 

alfredjgarrotto.com

Wisdom: A Reflection

"Wisdom is luminous and never tarnished; she willingly lets herself be seen by those who love her, and known by those who look for her. She hastens to meet those who long for her. Seek her in the morning and you will not be disappointed; you will find her sitting at your door. To meditate on Wisdom is understanding fully grown; whoever is on the watch for her will be free of anxiety. She goes in search of those who are worthy of her, graciously meets them on the way and is present in their every thought."

The Book of Wisdom (6:12-16)

Wisdom.

It has become the quest of the past decade of my life, triggered by my re-reading and meditation on Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. The above passage from the Hebrew Scripture reminds me that it is not I who seek Wisdom. She comes looking for me. 

The fruits of meditation on Wisdom include:

• deepening maturity ("understanding fully grown")

•  reduction of anxiety

•  the presence of Wisdom to me and its influence on my every thought, decision, and action.

Perhaps the height of Wisdom is knowing that I am not all-wise, all-knowing, nor fully mature. Instead I am a traveler who encounters Wisdom "on the way" (on my personal and shared camino). It is  in this real world that we bump into and recognize each other. And enjoy each other's company as we walk.

Photo by Alfred J. Garrotto, Los Arcos, Cabo San Lucas (2011)

Adult Faith: Growing in Wisdom and Understanding

Catholics wondering when their church will rise from scandal’s ashes can take heart. The change they desire is already present and growing like the gospel mustard seed. The roots of this movement are scattered but taking hold.

This is the hopeful message of Diarmuid O’Murchu’s Adult Faith. This straight-talk volume takes its place among a body of wisdom literature emerging from spiritual guides at the forefront of this growth spurt, including Joan Chittister, Richard Rohr, and Ronald Rolheiser, to mention a few. Discerning Catholics are invited to reimagine the Good News and actively cocreate a spirituality and theology suitable for 21st-century evangelization.

With razor-sharp clarity, O’Murchu presents not only a vision of what must come but a chronicle of the Spirit-led movement already underway. He identifies three concurrent approaches to faith in today’s Catholic experience: "conventional inherited wisdom" (controlled by a patriarchal, male-dominated institution), "embedded codependency" (passive enablers of the gatekeepers), and "adult empowerment" (openness to new ecclesial and universal realities through adult understanding and wisdom).

Diarmuid O'Murchu

Adult Faith may evoke a mixture of reactions, depending on the reader: anger and fear among those who currently hold power; discomfort and denial among their enablers; reenergized hope among disaffected believers who long for church-wide spiritual and theological adulthood.

Lest anyone criticize O’Murchu as bent on tearing down the church, he dismisses neither the relevance of the hierarchy nor the millions of clerical and lay Catholics who support the inherited structure. Rather, he challenges his brothers and sisters to recognize that the renewed, post-scandal church they hope for is in the making. Adult Faith is a major and welcome contribution to the spreading wisdom revival within Roman Catholicism. 

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Copyright (c) 2011 by Alfred J. Garrotto

This article appeared in the May 2011 issue of U.S. Catholic magazine (Vol. 76, No. 5, page 43).

Epiphany: Visit of a Wise Woman

I can't let this first week of 2011 (Epiphany Week in the Catholic calendar) evolve into the second week without saying a grateful farewell to a wise woman whose daily inspirations guided me through 2010. I'm referring to Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, whose daily scriptural commentaries enhanced my use and appreciation of last year's edition of The Bible Diary. I've been using this series for the past six years--jotting reflections and insights, marking personal and family highs and lows, reminding myself to pray for people and causes.

The 2010 diary was by far the best, and for that I credit the earthy wisdom and spiritual insight of one of the sanest minds in American Catholicism today. Joan could say in three sentences what other writers--including myself--require paragraphs to capture. Thank you, Joan. I already miss you. The men who provided the daily commentaries for this year's edition can't match you, either in wisdom or in brevity.