Path to Guidance

By Lou Occhi

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/082920.cfm
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Mark 6:17-29

George Orwell has been quoted as saying, "Some ideas are so stupid only an intellectual could believe them".

According to Webster’s dictionary an intellectual is, "chiefly guided by the intellect rather than by emotion or experience." I don't think that was what Orwell had in mind. For some reason, an intellectual is sometimes seen as someone who believes himself to be more intelligent than others and that whatever he thinks must be what is best for everyone else. Making sense of a concept is not necessarily important. It just has to satisfy the current narrative.

I once went to a work related weeklong class at a university. We had a professor that conducted the class. He was excellent. He explained the material extremely well and was entertaining as well. On the last day of the class we had a banquet for the attendees and the professor. It turned out that I sat close to him. I thought it would be interesting to converse with him and some of other students about his thoughts on various subjects related to the class. Well, there was no conversation in the sense that we had a two way discussion. All that he was interested in was talking about himself and what he thought.

You may be wondering what in the world this has to do with today’s reading. Before we get to that I would like to start with 1 Corinthians 1:17-19. Starting with verse 17, Paul’s letter reads, “Brothers and Sisters: Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside.”

Paul is telling the Corinthians, and us by extension, that he has come to preach the gospel, not in human intellectual gibberish and serious pontification, but through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. To do otherwise would be to empty the meaning of the cross of Christ. He continues by saying the message of the cross is foolishness to the unbelievers. After all, where is the success of someone who has been scourged, beaten, crowned with thorns and nailed to a cross? But, to us who are being saved it is the fulfillment of all prophecies and culminated in the resurrection from the dead. Paul ends these couple of verses by quoting Isaiah 29:14. In essence the verse says that He will destroy intellect of the intellectuals and the learning of the intellectuals will come to nothing.

I do not think that Paul would be demeaning all intellectuals, but rather those who hold themselves in high esteem. I was fortunate to meet Scott Hahn on our trip to the Holy Land. He is a genuinely nice guy who is extremely intelligent and able to discuss scripture in detail without pontificating. In my view, he is a true intellectual. When someone would talk to him you could tell he was intently listening to what that person had to say. His wife, Kimberly was the same way. I believe that this is what Paul was talking about.

Now we return to today’s reading from 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. This reading starts off with “Consider your own calling brothers and sisters”. Each of us have our own strengths and weaknesses. God made us just as we are and does not call us to do things that we were not meant to do. Father Mike was meant to be a priest and serve those in remote parts of South America. You can tell that when he talks about working with the people in those remote villages he was doing what he loved and was meant to do. Others here are into cutting wood for people who depend on wood for winter heat. Some were meant to care for the elderly, heal the sick, use technical skills to serve others, etc. In fact we all end up doing what we were intended to do. Where we get into trouble is when we rebel against what we are intended to do. In my case, I could have grumbled continuously about sitting all day in front of a computer. I have to admit that at times I did grumble a bit, but I knew that was what I was called to do. I know I would have been a lousy car mechanic and when I find a good one I am very grateful for his skill. In the course of my job I met many wonderful people and had many great conversations with people of different faiths. This was much to the chagrin of the company political correctness police. Since no one ever complained we were left alone with our conversations.

Paul goes on to say that the foolish are meant to shame the wise, the weak to shame the strong, the lowly and despised to reduce to nothing those who are something. I am humbled when I see a handicapped person doing incredible things. The lady with no arms who can change her babies diapers with her feet, a guy with no fingers play the piano, mentally handicapped people who are sweet, loving and incredibly happy, and on and on. These people who overcome their handicaps are a tremendous inspiration to me because they show me, with all my blessings of health, I could be doing so much more.

Paul wraps up the reading by simply stating that all that we have and that we are were given to us by God. It is our duty to always give credit to God for the good that we do. I am inspired when I see an athlete give praise to Jesus for his ability to run a touchdown, hit a homerun, and other physical accomplishments. Doing that takes courage because there are those watching that are quick to criticize those incidents. Remember when Tim Tebow would take a knee when he did something right. Do you also remember the high school systems that went nuts when their athletes starting copying Tebow.

We are called to use our talents, to be the best we can be, to always give credit and thanks to our Lord, to live life filled with love for others, and to always remain humble. If we simply do that then the Holy Spirit will be there to guide us the right direction.