Several months ago, I mentioned the time in my last year of High School when I, along with around 200 hundred other youth from different parts of my country, Colombia, sacrificed watching the World Cup on television to participate in a three-week retreat. That event changed me. I began doing more spiritual things, such as reading both the gospels and spiritual masters’ books. A few of my teachers saw that I was not as dedicated to some School subjects as before. I guess my interest in religious and spiritual subjects made me see those other subjects differently.

I recalled this part of my youth this past week as I reflected on today’s first reading from the book of Wisdom. The sacred author tells us that, “Wisdom makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her”. Far away from considering myself a wise person, I see myself more a seeker of wisdom. My senior year in High School was the moment I started to seek the Wisdom of God. Wisdom is a gift from God. In fact, it is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The sacred author talks about Wisdom as a woman who comes to meet people. The people that Wisdom meets have a set of characteristics. They love Wisdom. They seek Wisdom. They watch for Wisdom at dawn. They give Wisdom primacy in their thinking. They keep vigil for Wisdom’s sake. 

It is interesting to reflect on the idea that God, who is wisdom itself, is looking for the moment in a person’s life to grant this amazing gift. We need to provide the conditions for that to happen. When the sacred author tells us that people worthy of Wisdom watch for her at dawn and keep vigil for her sake, he is instructing us to actively seek God’s presence all day long. We must demonstrate constant dispositions toward and diligence in our lives for the spiritual, for God, concretely. One very effective way to do this is through reflection on the Word of God. From the first hour to the last hour of our days, the Wisdom of God must be in our minds and hearts.  We must actively seek it.

The sacred author of Wisdom could also be describing the moments in people’s lives that Wisdom is revealed to them. It could be a young age as was the case for Saint Thomas Aquinas or in college as was the case for Thomas Merton. Both Saint Thomas Aquinas and Thomas Merton listened to the sounds of the bell tower as five-year-olds. Yet, these two Thomases and spiritual masters interpreted the sounds very differently. Aquinas knew it was an invitation to the contemplative life. Merton had no clue at all what they meant.

When his parents sent five-year-old Thomas Aquinas to the Benedictine abbey of Monte Casino to receive his basic education, they had in mind that he could one day improve the family’s prospects. The family never anticipated that he would be learning the basics of the contemplative life which would make of him one of the greatest Saints in the Church.

Today, parents do not need to send their children to a monastery at age five; they need to help them have spiritual experiences to inspire their children to start seeking the wisdom of God. A great way to inspire children is to pray with them, read the Word of God with them, and talk about how God wants us to live our lives.

The Church teaches us that God almighty nourishes us, as the Body of Christ, at the twofold table of God’s word and of the Eucharist. From the table of God’s word, the Church grows in wisdom. From the table of the Eucharist, the Church grows in holiness. Today I highlighted the importance of reading the Word of God and reflecting on what He is telling us as the true source of wisdom. We do not need to become experts on the Bible. We do need to be in contact with the Word of God daily. What counts is not the quantity of reading but the quality of reflecting.

Let us humbly ask the Lord to consider us worthy of the Wisdom of God, and graciously appear to us in our daily lives.