Office hours: Make extra effort to obtain wisdom

		Living the Scriptures  with St. Paul University  Catholic Center  Brad Vogel

Everyone wants to be smart.

Education, we have heard since we were children, is the key to success - the key that opens many doors. Those of us attending the University of Wisconsin accepted this advice from our parents and teachers. We are here in pursuit of the intelligence that will improve our lives. We want to be smart.

But do we want to be wise as well? As this week's first reading points out, aspiring to wisdom is a whole different ball game.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Nov. 6, 2005) Wis 6:12-16 Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 1 Thes 4:13-18 or 4:13-14 Mt 25:1-13

Wisdom requires some extra work on our part. While in college, attending lectures and doing the assigned readings will allow a student to acquire intelligence. To obtain wisdom, however, the student must not only do what is expected, but also a little bit extra.

He must, in a sense, attend office hours, those voluntary opportunities to do a bit more - to study and learn more deeply. The Scriptures make it quite clear about the importance of making this extra effort.

Wisdom, personified as a lady, seeks "those worthy of her." And to make ourselves worthy of meeting this lady, the reading metaphorically suggests a few hints.

We must seek her. We must have a desire to make her acquaintance. We must watch for her at dawn. We must keep vigil for her sake.

All of the pieces of advice have a common theme: we must proactively pursue wisdom. Sitting back, taking a few notes, and doing the crossword puzzle while sitting in the back of a lecture hall just isn't enough.

Wisdom is fundamental to faith as it transcends mere intelligence or what St. John Chysostom called "poor human reason." It also goes with humility. To be truly wise - as Socrates recognized over a millennium ago - one must first recognize the limitations of one's own wisdom and intelligence.

The same holds true in our relationship with God. It is only when we are humble before Him that we can truly see the depth and magnificence of the love that spurred our own creation.

We know our Creator loves us, so why should we seek out wisdom? To put it metaphorically, why should we wake up early and slog up Bascom Hill in the extreme cold to office hours when we could sleep in a little bit longer?

Because wisdom, like Christ's love, is "unfading." It is not something we will memorize and forget a few minutes after the quiz has concluded. It has staying power.

While attending this university, I have experienced a few moments when the proverbial "light bulb" turned on in class - a concept or idea suddenly made sense. The realization can be pretty exciting.

But sometimes, sitting in the pews at St. Paul's, or talking with friends in Kutchera Library, a different light has turned on. Unlike a light bulb, it doesn't just illuminate a room. Instead, it's like the sun coming up. These are the realizations that lead to wisdom - the sentences of a homily or the words of a prayer that put my very existence into a new perspective.

It is easy to go through the motions; it is not difficult to settle with being the average student who simply attends class or the average Catholic who attends weekly Mass. Outwardly, we are just what we want to be seen as.

	Reflection question • Has your education ever conflicted with your faith?

But it is when we make the extra effort of "going to office hours," when we wrestle toward belief in the Trinity and the Real Presence - though they lie just beyond our own human comprehension - that we find wisdom "sitting by our gate."

Brad Vogel is a senior at UW-Madison. He currently serves as a student member of the UW Roman Catholic Foundation Board and a lector at St. Paul's Campus Center. He is also a member of the UW Knights of Columbus. Brad grew up in Kiel, Wis.

St. Paul's Web site is www.stpaulscc.org

Faith Alive!

In a Nutshell The moral life is essentially about doing what is good. Moral life is also about avoiding evil. Attempts to discover what Scripture says about moral living begin with knowing Jesus. The New Testament is filled with stories of people coming face to face with Jesus and thereafter living in an entirely new way. Loving God and neighbor is the core of scriptural morality. Catholic News Service 3211 Fourth St NE Washington DC 20017 202.541.3250 cns@catholicnews.com	Food for Thought   To live a genuinely moral life is a demanding challenge. It can sometimes seem quite demanding to avoid what is wrong. Similarly, doing the right thing -- choosing the best approach in difficult situations -- can make real demands on our time, our thinking powers, our energies. That's why it so often is said that apathy is a threat to morality. It takes real effort to engage life's concrete challenges in constructive, good ways. It can mean avoiding the easy way out. Christian morality has a lot to do with being free. But the basic question is "how" we'll be free -- the manner in which we'll exercise our freedom. Freedom is a gift from God, but like all gifts it can be employed negatively or positively. To employ personal freedom in positive ways means making decisions, choices, that aren't always easy to make. For example, it can mean making decisions that will benefit someone else but that will prove taxing for us. full story   What Scripture has to say about moral living By Father John W. Crossin, OSFS Catholic News Service Regular meditation on Scripture forms our way of looking at the world. Gradually, reflecting upon Jesus' teachings, we come to see the world differently. This truth came home to me early one morning when I was walking in Washington from the Union Station Subway stop up to Capitol Hill. A beggar asked for some money. I did not give him any. I wondered later if I was the "priest who walked by" in the Good Samaritan parable. full story  The moral life's foundation By H. Richard McCord Catholic News Service Moral living for a Christian is, in simplest terms, a life in Christ -- living as Christ in the world. For this reason, any attempt to discover what the Scriptures say about moral living should begin with Jesus himself: what he proclaimed and what he did in his public ministry. Notice that Jesus began his preaching by saying: "The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe" (Mark 1:15). Welcoming this new kingdom -- wholeheartedly embracing it -- is absolutely essential to Christian moral living. Starting anywhere else, whether with commandments or codes of conduct, is to build without a proper foundation. full story  How the Bible ties love to morality By Father Kenneth Himes, OFM Catholic News Service Few sayings of Jesus are more familiar than his response to the query about which commandment is the greatest. "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-40). For Jesus, morality (love of neighbor) is linked intimately to authentic religion (love of God). This is corroborated in early church teaching: "Whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ... Whomever loves God must also love his neighbor" (1John 4:20-21). full story
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