December 5/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 a great deal of 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 or understand the world around us (the latter a huge challenge these days!). We may apply similar methods to our spiritual lives, seeking to grasp God by studying Scripture, reading Christian magazines, 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 Thomas Aquinas or Henri de Lubac deserve our admiration. Reason and learning enhance faith, enormously so. But “proficiency in God” is not an achievement or a skill that we can add to a LinkedIn profile; the path to the Lord 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 him for what he truly was. As the medieval theologian Thomas à Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ, “Surely, when the day of judgment 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 it is a humble heart that will show us the path to God’s kingdom.
Lord of all wisdom and grace, Grant that I may entrust myself wholly to the mystery of your love. Amen.
To hear “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” sung by the congregation at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral (and to see some swank headgear!), click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS3QinSmPHI
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120523.cfm
