Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

A window at MSF
describing the Holy Trinity

 …it is only about the fruit of the tree

in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”

So what’s wrong with eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad? Wouldn’t it be wonderful always to know difference between good and bad? You wouldn’t have to agonize over the decision to vote Republican-anti-abortion or Democrat-pro-labor. You would know whether to shop at Walgreen’s or Snyder’s, Kroger or Whole Foods, Best Buy or Sears. Should you eat oatmeal or Cheerios for breakfast?

All these question and more would be resolved immediately if you could only begin each day by eating from that marvelous tree!

But you could also give infallible counsel to everyone else about what to do! They have only to turn to you to know what to wear, what to do, what to think! How good would that be?

In fact, a lot of people seem to eat off that tree every morning! Haven’t you noticed? Not only are they always right but they’re more than generous with advice. How come I wake up each morning with so much uncertainty?

But God had his reasons which he apparently left to the serpent to explain, “…you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad." If we could always eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad we would not need God. And that would be bad.

We might be full of ourselves if we had such wisdom but we would be starved for God. Dependence on God, which is the sweetest and most desirable pleasure of human existence, would be alien to us. Instead of rising each day to ask God’s protection and guidance, we would simply go to the garden and stuff ourselves with self-satisfaction. Sated with knowledge we would need no faith.

So God forbade us to eat of that tree. He turned us out of the Garden to wander in the shadow of the Valley of Death with only Him by our side.

But we did sample the tree. As vague principles in the fog of human existence, we can sometimes discern the hazy outlines of good and bad. We have some knowledge; it’s not infallible but it is sometimes rational. We can sometimes use our faculty of reasoning to discover principles like the Common Good. Any reasonable person can deplore “man’s inhumanity to man” without any special knowledge of God. 

However, in the quest for wisdom, we must finally turn to God and ask for the Holy Spirit. No one can say what the consequences of his behavior – even his best behavior – will be a hundred years hence. Every act has unintended consequences and sometimes the best intentions lead to disaster. But if we continually appeal for God’s guidance and benevolent mercy, subjecting every decision to his scrutiny as we patiently wait for the mysterious impulses of the Spirit, we can be reasonably sure that most decisions will turn to blessings in God’s providence.