Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 328

The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request. So God said to him: “Because you have asked for this– not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right–
I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.In addition, I give you what you have not asked for, such riches and glory that among kings there is not your like.”

As I labor through a history of how World War I began, I understand why the author titled his book The Sleepwalkers. Each man (and a few enterprising wives) acted as he thought best -- in some cases for his own interests but in most cases for those of their respective nations. None could see the apocalypse that their bungling would bring upon them. Virtually all the heads of government had royal claim to their office but none were malicious or totally incompetent. In most cases their state departments had to work around their sovereigns, using all the tact that one expects of diplomats. 

War was a part of the game of diplomacy but, it seemed to their minds, not the biggest part. Nor was it to be avoided at all costs. Whether they were at war or not, diplomacy had to continue. Who could imagine in advance an insane conflict of such scale? It was so dreadful that the American president called it the war to end all wars. Of course, (Thank God), it wasn't that either. But, with the effective end of monarchy and divine right of kings, they had to rewrite the books about diplomacy and war. As W.B. Yeats wrote of a smaller contest, "A terrible beauty is born." 

I understand that European thinkers are still reeling from the impact of that war, which began one hundred years ago, As dreadful as was the ensuing second world war, it was less disturbing to the mind and heart than the first. They're still wondering what happened and why. 

In today's reading we hear of an ideal king who begs God for the wisdom to rule well. He is not so interested in power or luxury as the ability to "distinguish right from wrong." He wants to serve God and others rather than himself. 

After our experience of the last century -- in which a "world war" broke out in 1914 and never seemed to end until (perhaps) the war in Bosnia, 1992-95 -- we wonder what kind of wisdom would it take to navigate such times. The wisest ruler in the universe could not have expected to avoid the mass slaughter of that age. Telling Right from Wrong seemed only a myth. Survival was the only right and killing the only way. 

Atheism became the new wisdom. "Hell" the wise man said, "is other people." 

But life goes on and many of us still have faith in God. "If you were honest with yourself and totally reasonable," some might say, "you would not believe in God." 

roadside rocks

But we are honest and reasonable and we do believe -- because God has spoken to us. Despite the wars that never end we believe what we have seen and heard. If it has not been revealed to everyone, we cannot thereby deny its appearance to us. That would not only be unreasonable; it would be intellectual suicide. I cannot deny what I have experienced.

God has called us. He saved us because he loved us. (Psalm 18:19) Clearly the way of atheism is not for us. We cannot bear that cynical hopelessness in our hearts. It is a weight too heavy to bear. (Psalm 38:4) 

Finally, we pray for our leaders, that they will be guided less by the spirit of their nations than by the Spirit of Wisdom, who is God.