GOD'S MYSTERIOUS WISDOM - C: 23rd Sun in OrdTime

First Reading: Wisdom 9:13-18 (4 September 2022)

“Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans” (Wis 9:13-14).

The text above conveys God’s immense wisdom to the point that no creature can ever grasp it. Indeed, since God is omniscient and almighty, no human being can ever lay hold of what and how he thinks, reasons, and decides. In the first place, nobody can philosophically define his essence; it can only be described by analogy to human experiences. This colossal image of God as an unfathomable deity directly impacts our way of understanding and relating with him.

First, we cannot frequently question, complain, and bear a grudge against him concerning the calamities and tragedies that happen on earth, particularly those that are beyond human control. While it is understandable that we as human persons are badly affected by catastrophic events, it is more likely that we are not comprehending well the Divine Will. God may have strong reasons beyond our parochial view of things, or that he may be simply preparing us for better things that come out of our negative experiences. This reality exists because our human minds can only fathom a tiny fraction of the totality of God’s intelligence. Thus, we just accept his ways. This truth is expressed well by the Psalmist:

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it …. How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand” (Psa 139:6, 17-18a).

Second, we cannot basically rely on our own decisions without considering God’s Will in our process of discerning. The Sage explains that “the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty” (Wis 9:15-16). What is inferred here is that since our physical bodies are occupied by many corporeal desires and concerns, we always face troubles in arriving at pure, righteous, and error-free decisions. In converse, God, who possesses the attribute of all-goodness and is never tied up to any mundane interest, can achieve this task with ease. The good news is that he assists us in reaching a wise decision as the Sage recognizes too: “Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight” (vv. 17-18). The Psalmist echoes a similar realization as well:

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away…. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me …. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa 139:1-2, 5, 23-24).

Our reading today, hence, directs us to two essential concepts about the human nature that are connected well to each other: Since we cannot totally comprehend God’s mysterious ways given that we are only his feeble creatures, we cannot go along bragging our plans, decisions, actions, and achievements to others. We have witnessed repeatedly that no human action went through without errors and adverse effects. The only remedy to facing this bitter fact is by surrendering all our ideas and plans to God.

We may not make sense of God’s Will at most times, but it indicates that only God is in control of everything; we are merely his instruments.

- Rex Fortes, CM