Chapter 14. The Gift of Wisdom

The gift of wisdom perfects the reason with its final and highest maturity. It is the last and the highest of the seven gifts.

Holy fear is the first, the root of all: ' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis dom;'1 and ' humility goeth before glory.'2 Holy fear, then, is the root, and wisdom is the blossom and the fruit and the crown. Wisdom is the Name and Essence of God. The uncreated wisdom of God was incarnate in Jesus Christ; and it is incorporated in His mystical Body, which is thv Church. Wisdom, then, in God is Himself. In us it is a supernatural habit infused into our reason, whereby we discern and judge rightly concerning God and divine things by a light in which we see thorn, and by a taste by which we know them.8 Wisdom is there fore both contemplative and practical; it sums up and contains in itself all the per fections of the intellect; and it is inseparably united to charity, by which it tastes the sweetness of God, both in His mind and in His will. It has therefore a foretaste both of vision and fruition. After this sight and

1 Prov. i. 7. * Ibid. xv. 33.¹

taste of wisdom, nothing remains but the light of glory, and the eternal union of the eoul with God.

This wisdom, then, is a gift, so that all may have it — old and young, learned and unlettered, the simple and the poor, especially they who are 'poor in spirit' and 'clean of heart.' But none can have it unless they be in charity and sanctifying grace; for they only are in union with God.

1; Wisdom is the sum of the seven gifts. It contains the perfection of the reason and of the will, therefore of the whole soul. All the seven gifts co-operate together. They act simultaneously but unequally on the reason and on the will, and they increase in their efficacy as they are mutually strengthened. Piety and fortitude act and react upon each other; piety inspiring fortitude to suffer, and fortitude sustaining piety in its self - oblation. Science gives to counsel the matter of its deliberation, and counsel elevates science to the higher ways of obedience and of patience. Intellect gathers for wisdom the divine truths and mysteries, which wisdom reads in a higher light, and knows by a spiritual sense. 4 Taste, and see that the Lord is sweet/4 is wisdom crying to the wise. For no other can so speak, and none but the wise have ears to hear; and these gifts mutually perfect each other. Counsel acts upon holy fear to reveal the temptations and occasions which surround us, and the way of escape. Piety acts upon intellect to sanctify it, and to in spire it with the obedience of faith. Wisdom acts upon fortitude to sustain it with the light and sweetness of the vision of God. Intellect acts upon piety to restrain it from fanaticism and superstition. This reciprocal action is always eliciting, confirming, and perfecting these seven supernatural habits, interweaving them with each other in the texture of the raiment of the Saints. But though they act simultaneously and reciprocally, they do not always act equally; and in the characters of the disciples of our Lord there are similitudes and diversities as there 4 Ps. xxxiii. 9.

are in the countenances of brethren in the same family. They are all alike, and yet all unlike, with a diversity which is perceptible and yet is less than their mutual resemblance. For instance, some are made perfect in the will, like S. Peter, by fortitude and piety; and some in the intellect, like S. Paul,' by science and counsel: yet both were perfect in sanctity. The perfection of the will makes Saints like S. Francis of Assisi, S. Francis of Sales, S. Vincent of Paul. The perfection of the reason makes Doctors like S. Athanasius, S. Thomas, S. Bonaventure. In some one gift is more prominent than another; but all are in harmony, and none are lacking. But over all this manifold sanctification of the reason and the will, reason presides and reigns supreme.

2. Wisdom therefore perfects the whole soul. It perfects all its natural functions and operations. By illumination it rectifies the reason, and conforms it to God and His truth. By fortitude it perfects the will in self-control and mortification. It guides both the reason and the will in the subjuga. tion and reformation of the passions of anger, sorrow, joy, zeal, and the like. And it per fects also the supernatural graces and virtues. It illuminates faith with the understanding of what it believes on the veracity of God. It perfects hope by the experience of divine sweetness, raising it to confidence: it also perfects charity in its order, and measure, and manner, and motive. It also unites both reason and will with God; for wisdom and charity are a participation of the Divine Nature. From this union come recollection, forgetfulness of self, and the habitual prayer or converse of the soul with God, and the light which shows us His will all the day long. S. John says, ' You have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things,' and 'you have no need that any man teach you.'5 This is true of all on whom the Holy Ghost rests with His seven gifts. Even in a common homely life there are those whom wisdom has made to be the 8 1 S. John ii. 20, 27 friends of God. Wheresoever they be, the poor mother toiling in her home, the carpenter among his tools, S. Philip in the confessional, S. Charles in the plague-stricken homes of Milan — they are all in the folds of the Divine Presence, in the light and the sweetness of His eternal king dom.

3. For wisdom is the earnest of our in heritance,6 the seal of the Holy Ghost,7 and the pledge of His presence in our hearts. It consists, as we have seen, in a light and a taste of divine things.

This light is a foresight of the eternal light. S. Paul says, ' With open face be holding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.'8 There is now the vision of faith, which transforms the soul into the likeness of God. * We see now through a glass, darkly, but then face to face.'9 It is the

• Eph. i. 13, 14. • 2 Cor. iii. 18.

' Ibid. iv. 30. • 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

beginning of the vision of God in eternity. If we live and die in this light, then in His light ' we shall see Him as He is.'10 It is as the morning light to the full noontide.

It has also a foretaste of the sweetness of God, and that by a certain assimilation, whereby the soul, being conformed to the mind and will of God, partakes of ' the divine nature'11 by an affinity of spiritual discernment and love.

1. Wisdom is the reward and inheritance of the humble. To a proud soul it is impossible to be wise. In Jesus, poor in spirit, were ' hid all the treasures of wis dom.'12 He is the wisdom of the Father. Mary, Mother of God, perfect in humility, is the ' seat of wisdom.' The Saints are rays and reflections of the Incarnate Wis dom. 'The poor in this world, rich in faith,'13 are rich in wisdom. Little children, in their innocence, which is akin to the sanctity of God, are wiser ' than all

• 1 S. John iii. 2. » Col. ii. 3.

11 2 S. Peter i. 4. 18 S. James ii. 5.

their teachers,' and have 'understanding above their elders.'14

2. But the wisdom of God is foolishness with men. They cannot see its light nor taste its sweetness; therefore they will not believe in it. It is the fool's wisdom to love anything more than God or below God or out of God.

The world has a wisdom of its own, by which it lost the knowledge and love of God; and that wisdom is threefold. It is earthly, or the love of riches, happiness, honour. It is animal and without spiritual sense. It is diabolical by pride, jealousy, and sloth. Against this threefold enemy we have also a threefold security. First, by detachment from the world, from friends, from ourselves; secondly, by attachment to God and His kingdom; lastly, by love of the Cross. He is truly wise who can say, ' God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I to the 14 Ps. cxviii. 98, 99.

world.'15 « With Christ I am nailed to the Cross; and I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself for me.'16

0 my Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to Thy promise, didst send unto us the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth and of wis dom, send down upon me the gift of wisdom out of Thy holy heaven, and from the throne of Thy Majesty; that it may be ever with me, and may labour with me, that I may always know what is acceptable to Thee. Give me the light to see, and the love to taste, the multitude of Thy sweetness, which Thou hast hid for them that fear Thee; and lest I should be deceived by the illusions of the enemy, make me to love the Cross, and willingly to bear it day by day.

Jesus, have mercy upon me.

Holy Mary, pray for me.

15 Gal. vi. 14. '• Ibid. ii. 19, 20.

Footnotes

1. S. Thomse, Sum. Theol. 2. 2, q. 45. ↩