22nd Week OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Notre Dame Seminary, NOLA
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Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Notre Dame Seminary, NOLA
I
taught literature in the late 80's and early 90's. And because my
students tended to rely heavily on their classmates for vital
information about my classes, I put on all of my syllabi a line from
the New Order song, “Bizzare Love Triangle.” The line goes: “The
wisdom of a fool won't set you free.” I'm delighted to report this
morning that St. Paul agrees with one of the 80's premiere English
bands: “If anyone among
you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as
to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the
eyes of God. . .” If you consider yourself wise in this age, how do
you become a fool for God?
Consider
this: a carpenter teaches a fisherman to fish. “Put
out into deep water,” the carpenter commands, “and lower your
nets for a catch.” The fisherman, suspecting foolishness but at the
same time confessing his own earlier failure to catch a single fish,
replies obediently, “Master. . .at your command I will lower the
nets.” When the great haul of fish breaks the surface of the lake,
the size of the catch tears at the nets, and the weight of their gift
threatens to sink the fisherman's boats. Awe-struck, nearly
dumbfounded by the abundance given in a single cast of his nets, the
fisherman does the only thing a wise man would – he falls to his
knees and confesses his unworthiness to the man whom he suspected of
being a fool: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
Sin
makes us stupid. Sin also makes us foolish. But St. Thomas wants to
know whether or not folly itself is a sin. He writes that folly is “a
dullness of judgment” and this dullness can be contracted when a
man “by plunging his sense into earthly things, [such that] his
sense is rendered incapable of perceiving Divine things. . .even as
sweet things have no [flavor] for a man whose taste is infected. .
.such like folly is a sin” (ST II-II.46.2). IOW, If we stunt our
taste for the Divine by over indulging in the crude flavors of the
world, our ability to judge what is Good and what is Evil becomes
dull and twisted. Folly is our judgment led astray by the baited
wisdom of this world.
So,
if you are wise in this
age, how do you become a fool for God? Following Peter the
Fisherman's example, you obey (you listen) to those you sent to teach
you and you reap the harvest of obedience, confessing your own sinful
folly. You confess – with all humility and genuine gratitude –
the depths of your ignorance and a deep desire for knowing the wisdom
of God. When the Apparent Fool says to you, “Put out into the
deep,” you put out into the deep, trusting that the deep obscures a
divine abundance, and that it is only your feckless fear and lack of
persistence that binds you in giftless folly. And after you obey the
Apparent Fool and haul in your gifts, you fall to your knees
awe-struck and nearly dumbfounded with gratitude and pray, “. . .
everything belongs to you. . .[O Lord]. . .all belong to you!”
Peter
may have suspected our Lord of being a fool. Even for just half a
second. But he overcomes his doubt and fear with one word –
“Master.” He calls Jesus “Master,” teacher. And places
himself at Christ's feet to learn. Peter's docility – his eager
willingness to be taught – reaps for him and his friends two gifts:
boats nearly sinking from the weight of their catch and a
proclamation from the Lord – “Do not be afraid; from now on you
will be catching men.” As heirs to these fishers of men, we best
catch souls for God when he put out into the deep at His command and
fish with humility, docility, penitence, and – always, always –
praise and thanksgiving.
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