December 1/First Tuesday of Advent
“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” ~ Luke 10.21
No matter how many times I read this passage from Luke, it always makes me feel a bit defensive. What’s wrong with being “wise and learned?” After all, many of us devote much time and energy to the cultivation of knowledge. We read widely, stay up-to-date with pertinent podcasts or periodicals, and diligently pursue information that will help us achieve success. We may apply similar methods to our spiritual lives, seeking to “attain” God by studying Scripture, reading Christian journals, even (for the more ambitious) tackling tomes of theology or philosophy. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with intellectual curiosity, or critical thinking, and certainly those who have the fortitude to take on Aquinas or Henri de Lubac deserve our admiration. Reason and learning enhance faith, enormously so. But knowing God is not an achievement we put on our resumes; the path to God goes through the heart, not the brain. If we put too much stock in how critically we think rather than on how powerfully we love, we risk becoming like Luke’s “prophets and kings,” who viewed Jesus from the outside, with analytical eyes that did not see truly. God embraces those who give back to him the love he gives, as openly and trustingly as a child reaching for her mother. As the medieval theologian Thomas à Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ, “Surely, when the day of judgement comes, we shall not be asked what we have read but what we have done, not how well we have spoken but how devoutly we have lived.” Learning is a good and useful thing, but a humble heart will lead us to God’s kingdom.
Lord of all wisdom and grace, Grant that I may entrust myself wholly to the mystery of your love. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120120.cfm
To hear the Children’s Choirs of College Church sing “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBXiPRFAsLs
Advent 3 : Dec 1 is a great reminder that knowledge and wisdom can mutually exclusive, absent a relationship with the Living God. Such a rich reminder that serving Him requires both the head and heart. And not too little of either.