All through the weeks preceding the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday, the Church puts before our eyes the meaning of true wisdom and the vanity of the things of the world. This preparation is a precious gift and like a timed alarm signaling the coming of the holy season. At this time, we go into a kind of training with the Lord: to turn away from sinfulness and to choose what is better out of love of God.
Although the Christian is always on the path of conversion, Lent is a particular gift of time for reflection. Through fasting, prayer, and all almsgiving, we can become more oriented to the Lord, who is always with us. It is a chance to come out of ourselves, not through our own self project, but by answering the call to true wisdom, where we are reminded that our earthly lives are short and that eternity is long. Inasmuch as we learn to prepare for the celebration of the Paschal mystery, we are preparing for the time in which we will face the Lord in death and hopefully be welcomed into our eternal home, the entire reason for which we were created.
Blessed is the Man who Finds Wisdom
St. Bernard of Clairvaux puts it this way:
If you are looking for [wisdom], really look. Be converted and come. Converted from what? From your own willfulness. “But,” you may say, “if I do not find wisdom in my own will, where shall I find it? My soul eagerly desires it. And I will not be satisfied when I find it, if it is not a generous amount, a full measure, overflowing into my hands.” You are right, for blessed is the man who finds wisdom and is full of prudence.
Happy is the man who has found wisdom. Even more happy is the man who lives in wisdom, for he perceives its abundance. There are three ways for wisdom or prudence to abound in you: if you confess your sins, if you give thanks and praise, and if your speech is edifying. Man believes with his heart and so he is justified. He confesses with his lips and so he is saved. In the beginning of his speech the just man is his own accuser, next he gives glory to God and thirdly, if his wisdom extends that far, he edifies his neighbor.[i]
Those Who Seek Me Find Me
Does not Wisdom call,
and Understanding raise her voice?
On the top of the heights along the road,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
By the gates at the approaches of the city,
in the entryways she cries aloud:
“To you, O men, I call;
my appeal is to the children of men…‘I, Wisdom, dwell with experience,
and judicious knowledge I attain.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride, arrogance, the evil way,
and the perverse mouth I hate.
Mine are counsel and advice;
mine is strength; I am understanding…’‘So now, O children, listen to me;
instruction and wisdom do not reject!
Happy the man who obeys me,
and happy those who keep my ways,
Happy the man watching daily at my gates,
waiting at my doorposts;
For he who finds me finds life,
and wins favor from the Lord;
But he who misses me harms himself;
all who hate me love death.’ [ii]
The Lord is always calling us to conversion, and while we have life, we can respond to that invitation to love Him more. Let us make this time of Lent the time of growing in union with our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Works Cited:
[i] St Bernard, of Claivaux. “From a Sermon by Saint Bernard: On the Search for Wisdom.” 6th Week of Ordinary Time | Monday – Office of Readings: Second lesson. Accessed February 19, 2023. http://www.liturgies.net/Liturgies/Catholic/loh/week6mondayor.htm.
Sermo de diversis 15: PL 183, 577, 579
[ii] “Proverbs 8:1-5, 12-36: Praise of Infinite Wisdom.” 6th Week of Ordinary Time | Tuesday – Office of Readings: First lesson. Accessed February 19, 2023. http://www.liturgies.net/Liturgies/Catholic/loh/week6tuesdayor.htm.
Posted for Ash Wednesday
February 22, 2023
