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The following message is adapted from Father Richard Rohr’s daily meditation for Monday, December 27th – Praying for Wisdom.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Simplicity: The Freedom of Letting Go (Crossroad Publishing: 1991, 2003), 68, 70, 75.
“On the last day of the year, I generally withdraw to pray. A few years ago, I asked myself: What should I pray for this year? What do we need in these turbulent times? Naturally I was strongly tempted to pray for more love. But it occurred to me that I’ve met so many people in the world who are already full of love and who really care for others. Maybe what we lack isn’t love but wisdom. It became clear to me that I should pray above all else for wisdom.
“We all want to love, but as a rule we don’t know how to love rightly. How should we love so that life will really come from it? I believe that what we all need is wisdom.” Unfortunately, many of us don’t know how “to enter upon the narrow and dangerous path of true wisdom. On wisdom’s path we take the risk of making mistakes. On this path we take the risk of being wrong. That’s how wisdom is gained.”
“It looks as if we will always live in a world that is a mixture of good and evil. Jesus called it a field in which wheat and weeds grow alongside each other. We say, ‘Lord, shouldn’t we go and rip out the weeds?’ But Jesus says: ‘No, if you try to do that, you’ll probably rip the wheat out along with the weeds. Let both grow alongside each other in the field till harvest’ (see Matthew 13:24–30). We need a lot of patience and humility to live with a field of both weeds and wheat in our own souls.
“Jesus came to teach us the way of wisdom. He brought us a message that offers to liberate us from both the lies of the world and the lies lodged in ourselves.” Following Jesus’ teachings creates “an alternative consciousness, solid ground on which we can really stand, free from every social order and from every ideology. Jesus called this new foundation the Reign of God, and he said it is something that takes place in this world and yet will never be completed in this world.
“This is where faith comes in. It is so rare to find ourselves trusting not in the systems and -isms of this world, but standing at a place where we offer our bit of salt, leaven, and light. It seems so harmless, and, even then, we have no security that we’re really right. This means that we have to stand in an inconspicuous, mysterious place, a place where we’re not sure that we’re sure, where we are comfortable knowing that we do not know very much at all.”
This meditation spoke to me because I truly identify with Rohr’s statement: “We all want to love, but as a rule we don’t know how to love rightly. How should we love so that life will really come from it?”
In other words, how do we intersect our love with wisdom? How do we embrace the “other” and understand that they simply “represent a part of ourselves (i.e., our Oneness) that we do not yet know?” How do we surrender our fears, illusions, and ego-consciousness to allow God’s wisdom and will to be our guiding light?
Our Unity Advent Booklet uses the 12 days of Christmas (December 26 – January 6) to describe our 12 Powers, and offers this on WISDOM:
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” James 3:17
Let’s breathe into this knowing. As we pause and turn within…we release the multitude of thoughts and questions that crowd into our heads…and breathe… opening our heart-minds to the “pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy” wisdom of God.
And we affirm:
“My inner wisdom guides me to the right decisions, the best steps forward, and the perfect way to bless others with my words and actions.”
And so it is…Namasté and Happy New Year – Rev. Vicky
