We like to think of ourselves as wise. Sometimes we hear terms like “received wisdom”, as though wisdom is a definitive thing, something commonly held by all people. In fact there are differing perspectives in the world about what constitutes wisdom and those things that people should strive for. This is nothing new, the nature of wisdom is something that humanity has struggled with since the dawn of human consciousness from Socrates to Sartre. Humanity still attempts unpack what wisdom is and how to acquire it.

Wisdom is something to be desired. In the Old Testament we see how Solomon is offered whatever he wants by God and asks for wisdom, which pleases God greatly. Solomon senses that wisdom will unlock everything he needs in life as a human being and king. Yet even Solomon eventually falls into sin and apostacy. 

There is also a whole book in the Old Testament dedicated to wisdom. Yet our own attempts to understand wisdom and make it our own always fail if we rely only on deduction and intuition. Everything comes to nothing in the absence of the Spirit of God.

In Sunday’s gospel Jesus tells us that the people who consider themselves wise and knowledgeable are anything but. The context for this is, prior to this gospel, the “learned and the wise” reject Jesus because somehow he does not come up to their expectations. They are probably over sophisticated in their thinking; they think they know it all. They think that they know what wisdom is and how to recognise it.

I guess that all us like to see ourselves as being wise in some way, but are we? Perhaps we often over complicate things. Our lives feel very layered and complex, sometimes characterised by pain in mind and body. These feelings lead us to feel overburdened, crushed and tired. We “cannot see the wood for the trees”. It’s as though we carry on our shoulders the burdens of the world as well as the difficulties of our lives. At times the burden we carry cuts very deep into us and there seems to be no way that we can find relief.

Jesus knows all about burdens, the burden of the agony of the cross. This Sunday he invites us to come to him. To tell him of our confusion, our needs, our disappointments, to show him our wounds of heart and soul, to share with him the depth of our pain. We can share with Jesus everything that we cannot talk to others about. In return he offers us to take on a different kind of burden his “yoke” is the way of love, grace, and mercy. He will relieve us of the “wisdom” of our damaged world and give us rest for our souls. 

I am working as a chaplain in Lourdes for the next two weeks but be assured of my daily prayers for your needs and intentions.

Fr Chris