Over the last twenty years I have come to deeply love the Wisdom of God. I love to study God’s Word, I love Catholic teaching, and I am thrilled to teach it. Right now I am both learning and teaching as my parishioners and I are viewing the video series Catholicism, by Fr. Robert Barron. Each week as we view and discuss another section, I find my heart on fire with joy and love before the beauty and magnificence of the Truth of the Faith.
I will say that there was a time in my life when I found faith and the things of faith boring and unconvincing. But, over the years the Lord has given me a new heart and mind so that Holy Wisdom and knowledge of the faith are the joy and treasure of my heart.
In the Wisdom tradition of the scriptures, Lady wisdom is portrayed as a beautiful woman:
- Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed. (Proverbs 3:13-17)
- For in her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, Manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, Never harmful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, Firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing, And pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle. For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity. For she is a breath of the might of God and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled can enter into her. For she is the reflection of eternal light; the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness. Although she is one, she can do all things, and she renews everything while herself perduring. Passing into holy souls from age to age she produces friends of God and prophets. For God loves nothing so much as the one who dwells with Wisdom. For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light, she is found more radiant; though night supplants light, wickedness does not prevail over Wisdom. (Wisdom 7:22-31)
- I resolved to have her for my bride. I fell in love with her beauty….I therefore have determined to take her to share my life, knowing that she would be my counselor in prosperity and my comfort in cares and sorrows…When I go home, I shall take my ease with her, for nothing is bitter in her company…I went all ways seeking how to get her…realizing that unless God gave her to me I could never possess her. So with all my heart I entreated the Lord. (Wisdom 8: selected verses).
Well, you get the point. She is beautiful and desirable. And I have come to experience this in the depths of my soul.
But there remains the very strange reality that, given her beauty, I could ever have missed her. And there is the on-going mystery that so many miss, and under appreciate her glory, her beauty and the joy of her.
Most prefer things far less beautiful, less captivating. Maybe it is T.V. or any number of passing diversions, creature comforts, dime-store novels, sports games featuring men moving a bag full of air (a.k.a., the “ball”) up and down a designated field of play. Perhaps not evil in themselves, but how amazing that so much time is spent in them, while beautiful lady Wisdom, Holy Faith, sits home unadored and unattended to.
I thought of that when I saw the Ad in this video:
Crazy huh? Such a beautiful woman and he prefers I beer. I like beer but I love wisdom. How could this guy be so crazy? I want to say, “Look at her, she’s beautiful….I said look!” “Huh?” he says, “Oh pardon, me I need some chips to go with this beer.” And this, more often than not, is modern man, and woman too: walking right past beauty, dabbling in it at best, and preferring something less, like beer.
Perhaps too the intoxicating effect of beer might be included in this analysis for as Scripture says,
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for idols.… (Romans 1:21-23)
Yes, this Ad is a powerful picture of so many of us who too easily value passing things over the glory of God and the profound beauty of his wisdom. Perhaps we could title this Ad and the choice it illustrates as: Beer or the Bride? Or alternately, the Lager or the Lady (As in “Lady Wisdom”). Yes, here is our choice.
Smart and suddenly dumb – Given our passion for passing things of this world, it also manifests that we are far more articulate about things of this world than the things of God and his wisdom. It often happens that people are passionate and extremely knowledgeable about sports, knowing even very arcane details about players, strategies, and prognostications of odds-makers. Others are passionate about politics, knowing in detail, party positions and why the other guy is so wrong. Still others are powerfully intelligent about their field of work, having highly developed skills. When we want to be, we’re pretty smart.
But when it comes to the faith, to wisdom, all of a sudden many of the same people are back in second grade again, with little to say about the faith. Thought they know the front line of the football team by heart, the names of the four Gospels escape them. You’d better believe they can engage in fast talk and in depth conversation about any number of worldly issues. But when it comes to knowing the faith and how to apply it to matters in question, suddenly we’re searching for words.
I thought about that when I saw this ad:
Again look at the beautiful woman, lets call her “Sophia” (Wisdom). But the guy’s praising beer. And look how articulate he is. But when the lovely and gracious Sophia asks him to articulate his love for her, he’s searching for words. OK, so I want to say, “Dude: look her in the eye and tell her she’s gorgeous and say, ‘How do I love thee, let me count the ways.‘”
But this is us. Gorgeous Lady Wisdom is with us, and our mind and heart are on holiday.
Sorry ladies, I realize this discourse about “gorgeous Lady Wisdom” may appeal more to the men in the readership, but you get the analogy, powerfully displayed by these beer ads.
Doxology – I want to say again, I have come to love wisdom. I cannot boast of this, only say, “Thank you Lord. Thank you for a new mind and heart, for better priorities. Thank you. Now please Lord, deepen my love.”
Thank you too, dear reader, for I have come to know that many of you too have a growing love for Lady Wisdom, for the beauty of truth. May God grant us increase.
It’s such a pity that these ads promote the dufus guy image … I cringe because I see my younger self in them.
Give me a heart for you, O Lord.
Ah you are right. I hadn’t thought about these commercials in that light. They still make the point, but as usual the man Is the fall guy. I have written on the men are stupid commercials here:
http://blog.adw.org/2011/05/cultural-misandry-a-minor-rant-on-the-men-are-stupid-commericals/
I agree that men are being constantly knocked in the modern media messages we receive, perhaps sometimes justly so because it’s what we’ve become – less than men. The husband/dad/boyfriend is ubiquitously displayed as a know-nothing-dufus, only to have the day saved by the stunningly intelligent wife/mother/girlfriend. But, given that I’m not married, perhaps it is closer to the truth than I think 🙂
John
http://www.theworldandtheword.wordpress.com
Perhaps it is not so much the know-nothing-dufus image that is real in the world but rather the lazy-let-the-woman-do-it-all AND the take-no-responsibility-for-family image. I know many women who are attending college, who are mothers. They are going to school and working, trying to do it all because the man is simply not there. The men either don’t want to take responsibility for supporting their own children (just leave when the woman becomes pregnant… this is also a problem in the abortion area because many women are pressured into abortion by their so-called boyfriends and only do it because they feel unsupported) or they sit at home playing games on the computer and assume “Supergirl” is going to take care of it all. The breakdown of the traditional family unit with non-marriage, divorce and now gay-relationships is truly taking its toll on the ROLE model that boys need so they can grow up to be responsible men, who want to love their wife, take care of their family and support them.
This ad does make your point Fr. and it is well taken, and sadly it also is not off the mark today in portraying the male as shallow and self seeking; but, only for the pleasure of the moment. Sadly Wisdom seldom interests us today until we have been stricken by the brick wall of reality.
I’m not sure that I come to the same conclusion. Mostly, these commercials are funny and geared primarily toward selling a product. But there may actually be a positive aspect: in their absurdity they demonstrate how relationships should NOT be. Underneath, but probably not planned that way, the sarcasm demonstrates to men that it is really the woman who should be loved and not overlooked.
I do, however, agree with the good Monsignor that there is a general social attack on men and their worth. I see it in the young people, where now it’s the girls who are largely involved in things and stand up proudly for their accomplishments, whereas the boys often seem timid and reserved.
I have been thoroughly enjoying Father Barron’s video series and the discussions that ensue. Have already completed the one on the Eucharist. Will he be the next Bishop Sheen? He seems to appeal across generations and even across religious barriers without diluting the truth of our faith.
At daily mass (in my 70s, retired) I see a preponderance of older adult women. How many men acquire salvation because of the continuing prayers of their wives? God alone knows.
So maybe the beer commercial and the point of comparing Wisdom with a beautiful woman reflect an underlying truth.
TeaPot562
Beauty is only skin deep. The beauty would be in the man wanting to know how beautiful the woman’s faith, heart and conscience are. Her looks will fade, his beer will go flat but reaching together to discover the truly beautiful would be a life long pursuit. The single GREATEST struggle for men today is in mortifying the senses – to see the Woman beyond her physical attributes. Isn’t that what’s been getting Man in trouble, well, since one of them accepted an apple from The Beautiful Woman?
By no means am I saying it’s easy ~ and with the way women dress today ~ very, very, difficult.
Maybe it’s like fine steak. If you grew up in a home with a dad that loves steak and tells you why it’s so great and what makes a tender juicy steak the pride of men, you’ll grow up loving it or appreciating it too. But if you grew up in a home that treats food as a passing necessity to get on with the day and that cooking for others is a chore. It’s gonna be hard for you to know what great steak is let alone what steak even is besides what you see in tv commercials.
In this analogy you’ll grow up with wisdom as being an esoteric object mentioned by old men in cassocks but never expressed in your family. In fact, you may gather bits of random information and cliche (overly chewy or burnt slabs of non-steak meat) and presume they are pearls of wisdom (mouth-watering juicy steaks) because that’s the culture you grew up in.
ALL men should listen to God & Holy Mother our Church as they teach us by example: The most beautiful wife is the one with a ‘sweet disposition.’ It’s NOT the exterior > but what is inside that counts. Thank you for being a Priest, Monsignor.
I just HAVE to reply to John and his comment:
“Mostly, these commercials are funny and geared primarily toward selling a product. But there may actually be a positive aspect: in their absurdity they demonstrate how relationships should NOT be.”
Um. For many women this is reality. Whether it is the computer, work, hamburgers or beer. For me the blackberry is my husband’s other woman.
I see your point exactly Msgr. It is a very astute analogy you make here. It truly does reflect our society, men, women, and youth. Our tastes, in a huge segment of society, run to the cheap beer of life, while passing over the fine wine that would require sipping and savoring rather than greedily gulping.
I also see it as the value of the woman being dissed in these ads. The joke of choosing the beer over the beautiful woman appeals to the sense of humor of the men who have no sense of true manhood and find great camaraderie in rude, lazy, jerk like behavior. Immaturity and entitlement seem to be the predominant attitudes of a great many men. But also, in their defense, women have become cheap commodities so what is there to value? I have to say some of the worst behavior and language I’ve seen come from women. I’ve seen them break up happy homes with no remorse. Both men and women have left wisdom behind. Men by acting like p noonish pigs in heat with no sense or self control and women by shedding their self respect and dignity for some fresh attention.