July 18, 2018 Wednesday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Is 10:5-16
Gospel: Mt 11:25–27
On one occasion Jesus said, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I praise you, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to simple people. Yes, Father, this is what pleased you.“Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
When the intelligent sharpens his wisdom by rubbing its edges against the whetstone of pride, he gets helplessly sucked into the vortex of indifference. He looses regard for the troubles of others. The same indifference sets him apart from simple people to whom the wisdom of God is revealed.
In using the terms “wise and the learned” in his prayer to the Father (Mt 11:25–27) Jesus was taking a dig at the Scribes and the Pharisees who were highly educated yet were often entangled in their own complicated logic. They were well educated in the Law yet too illogical in concluding that Jesus was driving evil by the power of evil (Luke 11:15). Jesus exposed the poverty of their logic when he said:
“But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive?” Their funny conclusions were not due to academic deficiency but due to pride. They were just too proud to bow to a son of a carpenter.
Apropos of pride is this story of a man who asked a little boy if the river wasn’t too deep for him to cross. Taking the boy’s word that it was shallow, the man hurriedly crossed the river on foot. It was too deep that he almost drowned. When confronted the boy explained: “But several ducks were able to cross that river just before you arrived. Aren’t you taller than any of those ducks, Sir?” Wise men drown in their own river of knowledge while the innocent navigate with ease to the riverbank of wisdom.
The reason why the proud often appear off tangent is that they are far removed from reality. This we all agree, right? But while we all agree that humility is a great virtue, we always think somebody else needs it. John Selden wrote in ‘Table Talk’: “Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.” Knowledge about humility as an indispensable virtue is as useless as all knowledge stored in the constipated mind of the proud. Knowledge becomes useful only to the Christian of humble heart. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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