Knowledge, they say, lets you understand that a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Wisdom is not putting that tomato in a fruit salad.
Both of these character traits help us grow in our faith. And if you had sufficient faith, you could move a mountain. I do not think this is hyperbole. But that faith has to be tempered by wisdom.
There would, for instance, have to be a mountain-sized reason to move that mountain. Jesus was not lying; we know he did not lie. But buried in this example is a truth.
The kind of faith that can move a mountain or uproot a tree and replant it, or work other miracles, is immersed in wisdom. It is infused with maturity of judgment and actively embraces God’s will. (It is important to note that this is not submission to God’s will, which is a different thing entirely . . . and perhaps a topic for a different time.)
Knowledge And Wisdom Alone Is Not Enough
When I was young, I had hopes that if I gained enough knowledge and acquired enough wisdom that I might put behind me the doubts that sometimes tormented me as a young person. Without realizing it, I think now that I assumed that wisdom and knowledge could either improve faith (if not perfect it), or perhaps even do away with the need for it.
And in fact, my adult conversion was partly emotional, driven by persistent life anxieties and worries. But it was also partly intellectual, supported by C. S. Lewis’s apologetics among other works.
It is my firm (adult) conviction that the truths of the church do not – cannot! – conflict with sound reason and reality. Further, I would assert that, on the whole, sound reasoning and knowledge of the real world have only reinforced my faith over the years.
But the fact that reason and knowledge helped me receive the faith and afterwards have reinforced my faith does not mean that faith is a rational construct. Faith is not a place that is likely to be arrived at with reason alone.
As St. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians, faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It can be welcomed or rejected, nurtured or neglected, but it is, in the end, one of the fruits of the Spirit.
Failing Up To “The Confessions”
In the early years of my adult conversion I attempted to reach people outside the faith with logic and reason and even my own testimony (usually as a last resort). I had very little success, especially with some of the most important people in my life.
Then in my mid-30s, I re-read “The Confessions of St. Augustine.” It struck me then that Augustine in large part attributed his own conversion to the faith and prayer of his mother, St. Monica. St. Monica’s example of faith also converted her father and grandmother.
Yes, his intellectual relationship with St. Ambrose was part of his conversion, perhaps the main part of his conscious conversion. But he never forgot her influence and the power of her prayers for him, his grandfather and great-grandmother, and for others.
So I turned, hesitantly and with some trepidation, to prayer.
Now I knew that turning to prayer was not, in effect, attempting to add tomato to my fruit salad. But I did not have much confidence in my own prayers.
Soon enough I realized that it was not my prayers I needed to place my confidence in. I needed confidence in the eternal living God to whom I directed my prayers (along with an occasional sidebar to ask St. Monica to lend her prayers in aid of my own).
Fast-Forward 35 Years
It seem distinctly odd to write “fast-forward 35 years,” but that is what I now ask you to do. After 35 years of prayer, one of the most seemingly resistant of my objects of prayer became a regular communicant again.
So I rejoiced . . . and took a moment to thank God for St Monica’s example, and also to thank St. Monica for her aid. And given the 35-year time span, I accepted the possibility that evangelism was not, perhaps, foremost among my own gifts of the spirit. This may be due to my fondness for indefatigable, technical, and – let’s face it – sometimes annoyingly bloody-minded argument!
On the other hand, I have been told that my style of Christian life makes the faith – and even the organized church – more attractive, or at least no longer quite so objectionable. This is actually a compliment coming from the person who said it. I don’t know how to respond to that, per se, but I do know that when asked I am ready with my own conversion story, and with reasons why I attend Mass regularly.
But the Church expects us to evangelize. This is clear.
Words and Prayer – Together
The words “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words” are usually attributed to St. Francis (though there is no evidence that he actually said this). This comforts me as being some justification for the strategy of living life in an openly Christian way and being ready to explore that with people attracted to the results. Sometimes I have even tried initiating those discussions myself. It is part of a living faith, even if this is a part that makes us introverts uncomfortable.
In any case, over time I began to believe experientially what I had only accepted intellectually. Prayer works in the lives of those being prayed for. Combine this with the realization that my own efforts are rarely (if ever) going to be enough, it became clear that it was absolutely time to put more and more trust in prayer. (I say “more and more” because like so many changes in our ways of living, making this kind of thing happen fully takes time.)
And Eventually, Wisdom
That’s knowledge. And here is something which might qualify as wisdom: let us not wait to realize our own efforts might not be enough. Let us start praying when we first begin our own efforts.
We need to pray as though prayer were the only option, the only hope. We should pray as though we knew in advance that all our unaided efforts will be futile. In short, we should pray as though the eternal salvation of our beloved family and friends is at stake.
It matters. It makes a difference. And it may take years, and someone else may reap the harvest of what our prayers have sown . . . but it works.
Blessed St. Monica, please add your prayers to our own as we beseech our Father to send the Holy Spirit to foster the conversion of those we love. We give thanks for your faithful example of steadfast prayer and devotion, and we ask, Oh Lord, to grace us with the strength and determination to follow your example as we add our own prayers to the ceaseless devotions of the saints for the conversion of the world and the salvation of souls.AMEN.
