WIDE DISCERNMENT

Wise Discernment

 

 “Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.” – 1 Kings 3:9a

 

The group of companies I worked for was closing down and I was about to lose my job. Some people with whom I had former business dealings offered me more than double my salary to manage their company. Upon closer scrutiny, I learned that this company didn’t pay minimum wages and didn’t pay the right taxes. But I desperately needed a better job then and lifted my cause in prayer to God. Through my wife’s prayer, God told me not to take the job.

A few years later, a multi-billion tax scandal landed on the front page of the papers. At the center of the scandal was this same company. Its owner, who had offered me the job, was on the run. If I had taken the job, I would have been his fall guy and taken the raps. I thanked God for the wisdom that he had given me not to take on that employment.

When we’re on the side of integrity and honesty, our discernment will always be a wise one!Rolly España (rolly@homeliving.com.ph)

 

REFLECTION:

Do you put your trust on what the world tells you or what God’s Word tells you?

 

Lord, thank You for the grace to discern what is wise from Your perspective.

 

 

What Kind of Wisdom to Pray For?

Young King Solomon prays for wisdom. Are you surprised? You should be. Look around and find out what young people usually pray for (if they pray at all). I ask you: Who among our young people today would pray for wisdom? Even among older persons, it is rare. After all, who admits to lacking wisdom? Often the reality is that the more foolish one is, the more clever one thinks of himself.

Could it be pride that hinders our praying for wisdom? Or is it simple foolishness? Or is it because of the vast amount of information available to us today? But information is not wisdom. And wisdom does not fall from heaven like rain, as the prayer of Solomon shows. Wisdom, real wisdom, is a gift from God one has to pray for. But be careful, there are different kinds of “wisdom.” “Greeks look for ‘wisdom,’ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and an absurdity to Gentiles,” St. Paul wrote.

Yeah, that’s a problem, it is the “wisdom of the cross” we should pray for. Again, today’s saints — the Jesuit Paul Miki and his 25 companions who were killed in 1597 in Nagasaki, Japan help us to understand this paradox. They were all crucified by being attached to crosses with ropes and chains before they were killed with a lance. An eyewitness wrote: “Our brother, Paul Miki, saw himself standing now in the noblest pulpit he had ever filled. To his ‘congregation’ he now began by proclaiming himself a Japanese and a Jesuit. He was dying for the Gospel he preached. He gave thanks to God for this wonderful blessing and he ended his ‘sermon’ with these words: ‘At last, I come to this supreme moment of my life. I am sure none of you would suppose that I want to deceive you. And so I tell you plainly: there is no way to be saved except the Christian way.’”

Hmm, the “foolish ness” of the wisdom of the Cross? For which kind of wisdom would you pray? What would be your word of wisdom from a cross?Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

Reflection Question:

Have I ever prayed for wisdom? What kind of wisdom should I pray for?

 

Lord, I never prayed for wisdom, for I thought I know a lot. The examples of young Solomon and the Japanese martyrs humble me. Give me the wisdom I need to serve You in the right way.

 

St. Dorothy, pray for us.