Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing
To commence means to begin. However, a commencement ceremony is a graduation--more of an end than a beginning. When you look at it, our language is filled with linguistic anomalies. We use a parkway for driving and a driveway for parking. A cargo is moved by ship and a shipment is moved by car. Does a house burn up or burn down? A dog can smell, and if dead for a while, it smells worse! If you don’t take a bath, maybe someone else will take it! You get the idea--much of our humor is derived from the double entendre in word usage.
In normal speech and writing, the only way we avoid word confusion is by the somewhat spontaneous understanding that we derive from the context in which the words or phrases are used. Analogous to this kind of natural understanding is a supernatural form of understanding, which provides us with a far more subtle grasp, not just of isolated words or phrases, but also of the whole sublime range of divine revelation, especially in his revealed Word, the Sacred Scriptures. It is in this theological sense that “understanding” deserves to be listed as one of the “personal” or “sanctifying” gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in Isaiah 11:2-3.
Many sincere people spend countless hours devoutly pondering the Word of God in order to enrich their souls. Nevertheless, not many of them who strive to absorb his profound truths specifically ask for the divine enlightenment and spiritual enrichment that can come only from the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit of God can enable us to sense the deeper meaning of his revelation. To trust only in one’s natural understanding, insights, and intuition (even with a strong theological and scriptural education) is to limit severely the reach of the human perception of the mind of God. This is how Paul describes the gift:
These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. . . . Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:10-14, emphasis mine.
For the Colossians (1:9-10), he prays that they be gifted with these powers of insight “We have not ceased praying for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.”
The entire thrust of these biblical passages is that we must not trust merely in our natural human minds to understand the mysteries and awesome truths hidden in the heart of God. The entire basis for the Spirit’s gift of understanding is the unmeasured trust that we must have him to supply it.
This excerpt is from the book Pathways of Trust, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.