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Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, January 17th, 2021 – Docility
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
My dearly beloved in Our Lord,
Last Sunday we have heard, at the end of the Gospel: “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace before God and men.” (Lk 2:52) Our Lord is true God. His unique person is that of the Son of God. He nevertheless conformed himself to the condition of the human nature which he had assumed through the Incarnation, from the Virgin Mary.
As God Our Lord cannot change. He cannot possible “advance in wisdom and age and grace” in as far as he is God. God does not change. It is impossible for God to change because change means imperfection, not perfection; tending towards perfection, if it is a good change, a change for the better.
But as a man Our Lord could change. Therefore he “advanced in wisdom”. In this regard he was docile. We also see this in today’s Gospel. The episode of the wedding in Cana in Galilee beautifully shows just how perfectly docile Our Lord was throughout his life. His holy mother suggests that he help the unfortunate newly-wed in their predicament. He answers that his hour has not yet come. Shortly later he complies with his mother’s wish and suggestion. Obviously she, like a good and providing mother, had talked to his father – God – and obtained that the hour of Our Lord’s public manifestation and ministry be advanced!
Our Lord was incapable of committing sin, or even the slightest imperfection. Our Lady was exempt from original sin and its consequences, and thus she always acted according to God’s will and good pleasure. She never committed any kind of sin or imperfection.
We are not in such a fortunate condition. Therefore it is all the more necessary for us to be docile. Docile means being willing to learn, searching and desiring to learn.
St Thomas Aquinas writes that “in matters of prudence man stands in very great need of being taught by others” (II-II 49,3,c). Here lies the major obstacle for our docility, namely our pride. It is not by chance that everything and anything today is willed and seen and described as “an experience”. Experience as such is not communicable; wisdom is. “Prudence is concerned with particular matters of action, and since such matters are of infinite variety, no one man can consider them all sufficiently; nor can this be done quickly, for it requires length of time”, the Angelic Doctor says in the same article. For example, as we say jokingly, you can eat anything – at least once! It is the parents’ responsibility to see that their children be kept from harm by getting poisoned, or by swallowing improper objects and suffocating. It is the cook’s responsibility to know which ingredients are safe and sane, and which are improper or dangerous for human consumption. An un-docile, opinionated and stubborn child will suffer accident after accident, mishap after mishap. A person going around and eating whatever appeals to his senses, will necessarily get poisoned.
Learning and taking advantage from the experience of others is possible, though! St Thomas again (ibid.) states about our “need of being taught by others”: “especially by old folk who have acquired a sane understanding of the ends in practical matters”. Then he quotes Aristotle – the Philosopher – saying: “It is right to pay no less attention to the undemonstrated assertions and opinions of such persons as are experienced, older than we are, and prudent, than to their demonstrations, for their experience gives them an insight into principles.” Then he gives two quotes from Holy Scripture: “Lean not on thy own prudence,” (Prov 3:5) and “Stand in the multitude of the ancients” (i.e. the old men), “that are wise, and join thyself from thy heart to their wisdom” (Sir 6:35). “Now it is a mark of docility to be ready to be taught: and consequently docility is fittingly reckoned a part of prudence”, St Thomas concludes this article.
In the “modern” mindset, only knowledge counts. It is the adequate means to obtain and exercise power. But true knowledge and science is not about power. The book of Wisdom says about wisdom: “Which I have learned without guile, and communicate without envy, and her riches I hide not.” (7:13) This is an entirely different attitude. The difference is very much worth considering! He who is wise, communicates his wisdom without envy… True education, teaching and formation are not meant “to pay off” in the obvious sense of this term – but today that is the prevalent attitude. It is purely materialistic and therefore anti-Christian and anti-divine! Instructing the ignorant is a work of spiritual mercy, not a business, just as visiting and caring for the sick is a work of bodily mercy. These can never “pay off” as trades – and therefore the “modern” system of state education and state health care have always been set to fail!
St Thomas Aquinas gives us the all-important clue to understand what things are about when he quotes Aristotle (see above). Those who have been around for some length of time should be listened to, “for their experience gives them an insight into principles”. We all have made the distressing experience of learning at school being all bits and pieces. They often appeared unconnected and quite useless. But what a great consolation it has been when slowly, and again and again, things have started making sense. Ultimately all true knowledge participates in the one and indivisible truth! According to our human frailty it takes us a lot of time to properly understand things, as St Thomas hinted: “it requires length of time”. And “modern” man is ever so much in a hurry...
The “modern” path of mankind separating itself from the truth – first from the supernatural teaching authority of the Church (Luther, 1517); then from the truth incarnate, Our Lord (deist freemasonry, 1717); last, from God himself (atheistic marxism/leninism 1917) – has always been a wrong path which necessarily leads to the great demise which we are facing now.
We are called to leave all this behind – not only somehow, practically… but to overcome these errors through acquiring ‘an insight into principles’! The Catholic Faith starts with bits and pieces of knowledge and of patterns of action; but it is bound to progress to ‘an insight into principles’ which encompass and embrace our entire life and being – or to fail miserably.
Therefore let us bravely fight our pride in order to become and remain docile! The great Socrates “knew that he knew nothing” (scio me nihil scire): All the great insight and understanding of the spiritual realm made him more and more humble.
Let us follow his footsteps in this regard. Our focus should not be on the crises which are chasing one another. What else do we expect in a world that denies the obvious, even God’s existence and almighty Providence? We need to focus on how things really are, and how we can contribute to restore all things in Christ once the present system of lies and sin will have been taken overcome. We need to be attentive to God. He knows what is good for each one of us, and what is not. He constantly gives us indications and signs of what we should do, or not do. Often enough we act imprudently and unwisely. We do whatever we want to do, without making sure it is God’s will.
Let us follow Our Lord’s footsteps in all things, He who has given us a perfect example of all virtues, “being confident of this very thing, that he, who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:16).
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
P. Arnold Trauner (paterarnold@hotmail.com), njemački i
engleski
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