Homily 15 May 2005 By Fr. Hathaway FSSP Mater Dei Latin Mass Community
Pentecost Sunday
On Heavenly Wisdom
<>My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as
the world gives do I give to you.”
We know very well our divine Savior is a fisherman… for He is
always dropping the line of grace to pull men up from troubled waters.The devil, too, is a fisher of men… but he
ties temptations to his rig to bring men down.
There are all manner of lures in the tackle box of the devil.And just as we resist one, he quickly ties
another and casts again.Some of the
devil’s lures shine with delights of fame, others rattle with thoughts
of great
fortunes, others tantalize with fragrant fashions of the world… all to
draw us
away from our God.
The devil is an excellent fisherman.His
creel contains many souls of all manner
of men… big and small, rich and poor, sophisticated and rustic,… But
let us
take courage; our Savior has come to save, not condemn, and He has
given us a sure
defense against the keen skills of the devil.
My peace I leave with you.Our dear Savior has given us the Holy Ghost and His seven-fold
gifts to
safely draw us from the waters of the world.
Now every Catholic school boy knows what the seven-fold
gifts of the Holy Ghost are…
Wisdom – gives us a relish for the things of God; directs us
to love Him above all things.
Understanding – enables us to know more clearly the great
mysteries of our faith; plumb their depths.
Counsel – alerts us to the deceits of the devil and dangers
to our salvation.
Fortitude – strengthens us to do the will of God; even to
die before sin.
Knowledge – equips us to know the will of God in all things.
Godliness (piety) – inspires us to love religion and its
practices; stirs us to obey out of love.
Fear of the Lord – fills us with a dread of sin.
These are the gifts of the Holy Ghost to the apostles as
much as to us; these equip us to do great things for our God.
Of these gifts let us briefly consider the Gift of Wisdom… and
this by a true story.
In the time of St. Francis de Sales there lived a wealthy
man of high society who made frequent boast of his Catholic religion.So he lived until one day a series of
misfortunes beset him and he eventually lost both his wealth and his
high position
in the world.Overwhelmed with grief and
lamenting his new circumstances, he began to murmur against God as
though Providence
had abandoned him.At this point Francis
de Sales met him.Francis at first tried
to raise this man’s thoughts from earth to heaven; this failing, he
then asked
him, “My friend, is not God to be loved above all things?Should a man not be ready at all times to
love God equally whether he have much or have little?”
The ruined man replied, “What you say is very good in theory
but not in practice; it is easier to say that then to carry the burden
of its
weight.”
To which St. Francis rejoined, “Indeed, it is a firm truth
that he is very covetous to whom God is not enough!”
This remark deeply touched the man.He has
always loathed the vice of
covetousness and, now, discovering his infection, he began to shed
bitter tears
of remorse.And, in this way, so did his
temporal misfortune prepare the way for an eternal inheritance.
The Gift of Wisdom strengthens a man so that he resists giving
undue attention to earthly things. The Gift of Wisdom equips us to live
less
for the world and more for God; to pursue less the things of this
passing life
(no matter the shine, the rattle, the odor) and pursue more the eternal
things
of heaven… and things truly to be treasured.
We all do well to frequently ask for the Gift of Wisdom in
prayer.
In the second mystery of the Rosary, The Ascension of Our
Lord into Heaven, there is a tradition of asking for an increase of
wisdom by
the petition, “for an increased desire for heavenly things.”If we make this our own practice we will grow
to love God more and long for heaven more… so as to cast a pale over
all baits
of the devil and contenders for our soul.
The Blessed Savior says, “My peace I leave with you; My
peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.”The world gives (fame, fortune) so that the
world may be loved more; God gives (His grace, His peace) so that we
may love
Him more.If we truly wish to be placed
in the creel of Christ then let us ask for the Gift of Wisdom; asking
for this Gift
shall return to us a measure of His peace; and the more the Gift of
Wisdom propels
us in divine love so much the more will we experience a share in the
peace of
Christ.
Finally, let us not forget to ask the help of our Blessed
Mother in this endeavor.She, too, is a
fisher of men.Recall with what eagerness
she fished for her Child… finally catching Him in the temple.Now she is crowned in heaven in full
possession of her God; but she is eager to fill the creel of her Son;
and now
fishes for us with Him.Let us give her
our
firm and confident devotion; let us stay hooked to her; and, after the
brief
struggle of this life, she, by God’s grace, will land us on the banks
of
heaven.