It Will Be Hard

We begin life by hunting success, first by passing exams, then by seeking acceptance into schools and the workforce. After that life becomes about wellness and the accumulation of wealth. But without wisdom, how are we to know what to do with success or health or wealth?

When I was a little boy I had very little understanding of how the world worked, but my mother used to say that I “had perspective.” She enrolled me in art classes and encouraged me to pursue the Arts, which I did. Nor did I have any real understanding of how the Church worked, but my mother would also say that I showed “the beginnings of wisdom.” Perhaps the two are similar.

Perhaps the word “perspective” is one way to think about what we mean by “wisdom.” Wisdom is the sense of God’s ways, a sense of His will. In some ways it’s similar to perspective in that it speaks to how things are related to one another. Before a canvas, the artist asks, “How is that tree in the foreground related to those houses in the background?” In the world, the man seeking wisdom asks, “How are my success, wellness, and wealth related to one another?”

This is why we might say that asking for wisdom is about asking God for the grace to see things from His perspective. Likewise, seeking to know and to do God’s will is about asking to see our lives from His perspective.

We should pray with Scripture, receive the Sacraments, and live with other Christians. Christ will help us by purifying our hearts to sense the movements of His Spirit in us, and He will enlighten our minds by the light of truth to perceive the ways in which the Father speaks to us. This is the preparation.

Then we should brace ourselves to accept that the will of God will always be hard. Following Christ will always mean following Him to the cross. Jesus was “set out on a journey” when the rich young man approached him. Where was Our Lord going? Ultimately back to the Father, but by a way that will pass through the cross.

The rich young man chose not to follow Christ but to prefer instead his own measure of success, wellness, and wealth. But only the perspective of the man on the cross can see how the riches of the world are related. The cross is the wisdom of God. +