psalm 90 - real wisdom - 23rd sunday C

I would like to propose for our reflection this Sunday our responsorial psalm, psalm 90.  Psalm 90 is the only psalm attributed to Moses.  Most of the psalms are attributed to David. At the heart of this psalm is a prayer recognizing the shortness of time and the limitations of human life.  This psalm is attributed to Moses because the real author probably thought that there is no better person to pray to God about the brevity of time and the limitations of human life than Moses himself.  Why? 

If you remember Moses led the Israelites in their wanderings in the desert for 40 long years.  Then as they were about to enter the promised land, Moses was led by God on top of Mt. Nebo, there, to glance, to take a peek at the promised land, a land just within reach, the land of his desire, the goal of all his struggles and the object of their wanderings . . .  a land, sadly, Moses was not allowed to enter.  40 long years, years of toil and hardships, leading a hardheaded people – then just as he was about to enter the land he was just given a peek. 

Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses, a prayer about the brevity of time and the limitations of human life, it is a prayer of a man whose time has ran out, whose human limitations overtook his desire and aim. “O Lord, you turn man back to dust.  For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night. You make an end of them in their sleep; the next morning they are like the changing grass, which at dawn springs up anew, but by evening wilts and fades.”

Psalm 90 is considered a sapiential psalm, sapientia meaning wisdom, for it gives us wisdom and a deeper understanding about life, it helps us to live life with insight into things, it helps us to think things through and not just allow ourselves to drift through life. “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart” the psalm says.

In our second reading Paul reminded Philemon that he, Paul, is already an old man.  Paul was already in prison and has probably sensed that his days are numbered.  Paul is no longer his usual self as in his letter to the Galatians where in a fit of passion lashed out on them calling them “Stupid Galatians!” and even lambasted on Peter for vacillating on his decisions.  However, in this letter Paul is different man.  He is very gentle, no longer demanding and angry, but quietly pleading, patiently asking and able to wait.  It is a beautiful letter and it is beautiful precisely because as one gets old, as one begins to confront the end and limits of one’s life, one begins to use the heart more than the head.  They call this wisdom, having insight into things, learning to think things through.

Our gospel is also asking us to be wise.  It is not asking us to hate our families, no.  It is asking us to think things through, to get hold of our priorities, to channel our energies to things that really matter.

Tomorrow is labor day.  For what do you labor, for what do you spend those long hours of work?  Or is it for whom.  For whom do you wake up every morning?  For whom do you take that early bus on a chilly day? For whom do you work struggling, fending off tiredness, overcoming boredom and even the lack of appreciation, sacrificing . . . for whom?

This Sunday Mother Teresa becomes St. Teresa of Calcutta. I would like to imagine that when she put on the sari to serve the poorest of the poor of India leaving the secure confines of the Convent of the Sisters of Loreto to be out on the streets of Calcutta, that decision must have been difficult.  But confronted with the shortness of life, confronted with the limitations of human life, wisdom taught he to embrace what she called the call within the call.  For whom was she doing this difficult task?  As she would often say – for Jesus, only Jesus, always Jesus.  A wise heart will always disavow autonomy.  Moses, having been fed with manna and quails, and having his thirst quenched by water flowing from the rock for 40 years, never said, “I am doing this on my own, I am doing this for my personal happiness, I am doing this because I will prove to the world that I am capable.”  Wisdom will always teach us to entrust ourselves to God and pray with the psalms “prosper the work of our hands for us, O Lord, prosper the work of our hands!”  If Mother Teresa were alive today, I believe she would tell us that this canonization is not about her.  It is to honor Jesus, only Jesus, always Jesus, the same Jesus who prospered the work of her hands, the same Jesus to whom all her efforts and work were attributed.  Wisdom alone can teach us that.