A Wise Man Knows...

by Shirley Shim

Fr Teo's homily at St Aug's on Sunday night was very powerful. He tied the first reading (1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12) to the Gospel (Mt 13:44-52) very nicely. First he spoke about how out of everything Solomon could have asked God for, he asked God for wisdom. Then Fr asked us, if we could ask God for anything, what would we ask Him for? I thought about it then and the first thing that came to my mind wasn't wisdom, but then I tried to think about my life, the decisions I've made and the insights God has blessed me with and I'd like to think that He has given me a small fraction of that wisdom and for that I'm grateful for being able to think certain things through. This and what Father had said made me realise wisdom is indeed a very powerful and precious gift. Decisions made unwisely tend to lead to chaos and destruction. 

As humans we often want to see action, we assume that action means progress and inaction means nonchalance or indifference. It takes a wise person to see that sometimes things are left as they are for a reason, or even for a better outcome. For example last week's gospel (Mt 13:24-43) about the wheat and the weed, the workers wanted to pull out the weeds (action), but the wise master said to leave them be (inaction), let them grow together with the wheat and when come harvest time, the weeds will be separated from the wheat and thrown out. So also like the gospel this week, in fishing, when they haul in the massive net of fish, the bad ones will be separated from the good haul and thrown out, and just like the end of age, the angels will separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. 

When we ourselves try to carry out this action and be God, the outcome is always horrendous. Look at the many examples in history, Hitler tried to create the ultimate master race by annihilating the Jews and others that he considered unworthy, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge wanted to exterminate an entire class of people, trying to claim progress in doing so. ISIS now trying to rid Christians in Syria and Iraq by enforcing inter-faith conversion or death, including killing of their own Muslim brothers for not adhering to their laws as they interpret it. Even the many actions of a certain country in declaring war and killing off another country's leader, what has that action brought on? Instant gratification that the tyrant leader is dead, and maybe a sudden uptake of sales in weaponry thus improving the manufacturing country's economy, but what about the cascading effect that has since occurred? A longer lasting effect of intense fighting, a country run by outlaws and worse oppression from some people who have no brains and no soul. The people were better off with the tyrant leader. Were all this actions done in wisdom? The powers that be of this world may not be the wisest of men but instead seek to be God over others.

Father ended his homily saying that he's learnt to accept people and things and not try to change them. Sometimes there is a bigger purpose that we as mere humans are not meant to be aware of. Let's not try to be God and decide on someone else's life or future. It takes a wise man to know when to just let things be...