Lady Sophie

Introduction

The Energy Crisis

As we drive along during these wonder-filled days of fall we’re suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude when we see a filling station sporting a gas price of only $2.46 a gallon! These last couple of months our necks have grown sore as we watch the price of fuel go up and down, up and down, like a thermometer. When summer comes and we all want to take to the roads, up goes the price of fuel. They say it’s simply the innocent law of supply and demand at work. When the cold blast of winter strikes, up again will go the price of fuel. Again they’ll tell us it’s the innocent law of supply and demand at work.

Whenever we get into a quarrel with one of those Persian Gulf countries sitting on all that black liquid gold, they punish us by cutting down production, creating a shortage, upping the price of energy and stymieing the economy of us infidels. Such a shortage isn’t innocent; it’s man-made. And here in corporate America we little guys never know for sure whether our energy crises are innocent or whether they are, in fact, man-made.

The President of this great nation of ours fatherly counsels us to conservation as a strategy for wiggling out of our crisis. We should think twice before we jump into our cars. We should ask ourselves whether this jaunt is really necessary. We should learn to double up our errands. Also we should start walking; it’s good for our hearts and heads. The President’s exhortation to conserve energy is well-taken. The resources of our Mother Earth are not infinite, and we are called to good stewardship of those resources. But it’s easy to counsel conservation when, presto, you have daily at your disposal a 747, a real gas-guzzler. It’s easy to counsel conservation when you have the freedom to fly wherever the winds of good exposure dictate that you should fly, and you don’t have to pay one red cent to fill up the tank.

Energy crisis in the O. T.

There are two energy crises recorded in Scripture. The first one is in the Old Testament in the First Book of Maccabees. In the second century before Christ, there was a huge cultural struggle going on between Greeks (Gentiles) and Jews. On the one hand there was the triumphant Greek culture with its beautifully sculptured male and female bodies. Even some Jews were attracted by that (I Mc 1:15-16). On the other hand there was the main body of the Jewish nation faithful to the Law and the temple. When Antiochus Epiphanes erected an altar in the temple to the Greek god Zeus, he committed an unspeakable sacrilege. In the gospels it’s mentioned as the “abomination of desolation” (Mk 13:14; Mt 24:15). Antiochus desecrated the temple, and that demanded its rededication. The rite of rededication took eight long days. But legend has it that there was only a one-day supply of consecrated fuel for the great temple candelabra which was to be kept burning throughout the days of rededication. Miraculously that little supply of oil lasted throughout the eight long days of dedication (I Macc 4:36-59)

That event is commemorated by the Jewish feast of Hanukkah. The word simply means dedication. Hanukkah is always celebrated around our Christmas time. This year it will be on the 26^th of December. The menorah (the candelabra) used for Hanukkah has eight branches commemorating the eight days of miraculous light. One candle is lighted for each of the eight days of Hanukkah. That’s why it’s also called The Feast of Lights.

Energy crisis in the N. T.

The other energy crisis is to be found in the New Testament parable of the five wise and five foolish bridesmaids. “The kingdom of heaven is like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom” (Mt 25: 1-13). In that day and culture the wedding ceremony was held in the evening. That’s what the lamps are all about. The bride’s female attendants went ahead to meet the bridegroom and his party, and they accompanied him and his entourage to the bride’s house.

Five of the bridesmaids very wisely set out to meet the groom, with a lamp in one hand and a supply of oil in the other. But the other five mindlessly set out with no oil but only lamps in their hands, and they were already beginning to flicker. That was foolish of them, for it brought on an energy crisis.

All the busyness that goes with weddings, like bachelor parties and the like, can easily disrupt the time schedule. So the bridegroom was long-delayed in coming, and the bridesmaids began to grow drowsy. Those who had taken care to bring a supply of oil with them were at peace and fell asleep. But the foolish ones, who made no provision for fuel, also fell asleep, and that wasn’t very wise of them. Instead of sleeping they should have been worrying and should have gone off into town looking for a filling station.

Finally at midnight, one of the bridesmaids cries out, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming! Come, let’s go out and meet him!” All got up to trim their lamps, but it dawned on the foolish ones that they had run out of fuel. They cried out to the wise ones, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out” (Mt 25:1-13). And the wise bridesmaids responded with an unabashed “No!” This is a parable about what wisdom does in a situation like this.

Lady Sophie

The Old Testament books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Songs and Ecclesiasticus (Wisdom) all fall under a category called wisdom literature. That literature personifies wisdom and addresses wisdom as a person. She is Lady Wisdom or Lady Sophie. (Sophia is Greek for wisdom). The Book of Wisdom says that Lady Sophie “came forth from the mouth of the most High” and “ministered before God in the holy tabernacle” (Ws 24: 3, 10). The first reading today says that Lady Sophie, “is resplendent and unfading… and readily found by those who seek her. And whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed” (Ws 6: 12-16).

The parable rewritten with YES

Immediately after Vatican II it was fashionable to jump aboard the bandwagon of the social gospel. The social gospel views the Christian task as not much more than making all poor people rich and all rich people a little poorer. Quite an impossible task since Christ has promised that the poor will always be with us (Mt 26:11). The social gospel never pleased my mystical friend whose many letters I have frequently shared with you. She always thought it cheated us. She felt that very socially active priests were not much more than “spiritual Democrats.” That is to say, she felt they were more political Democrats than they were spiritual people. She insisted that Catholics should not be looking for social activists in their priests and ministers but for truly spiritual people.

She wrote a letter dated Nov. 8, 1981 (twenty-four years ago--just around that time of the year when this parable is always being read on the 32 Sunday of Ordinary Time). Back in 1981 I was in my younger and less mature years at St. Benedict the Moor Church. In her letter she seems to express some wonderment about me. She wondered whether I was more a political Democrat than a spiritual person. She writes, “I can see you standing there over this Scripture text of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, sighing, moaning, groaning. Choking over it. Gagging. Weeping.” (She always wrote with a great deal of feeling.) She continues her letter not as my enemy but my friend:

In this great age of social concern, I am sure you would want to rewrite this parable so that it says YES instead of no: “Then the five poor bridesmaids said to the rich ones `We have no oil. Our lamps are going out! Please, for God’s sake, give us some of yours.’ “And the rich bridesmaids immediately responded with full heart saying, `YES, of course. The rich must, indeed, share with the poor.’ And the rich ones shared with the poor ones, and together they lived happily ever after.”

The parable un-rewritten with NO

That’s how the social gospel would rewrite the parable. But the parable, as it stands un-rewritten, does not say yes. It says no. “No,” said the wise bridesmaids. “No, you can’t have any of our oil, for there might not be enough for us and you.” This is a parable about Lady Wisdom. She knows not only when to say yes but also NO. She knows when yes simply absorbs the irresponsibility of others and enables them to carry on as usual. Lady Sophie knows when to say a difficult no especially to those we love in order to help them learn the hard way (which is the only way we learn at times). “No! You can’t have any of our fuel. No! Take the long road back into town, find a filing station and buy your own fuel. That pain will help you to think twice the next time you take off.” Lady Sophie knows when yes is crueler than no, and when no is kinder than yes.

I took my dog, Simeon, to the vet the other day. He weighed in at 110 pounds. “Way too much,” said the vet. “It’s not good for his heart or his legs and for his over-all well-being.” My vet doesn’t realize what an eating machine a yellow Lab can be. He doesn’t appreciate the irresistible power of those innocent and pleading eyes as he looks up at you. But my vet and Lady Sophie keep reminding me that yes is sometimes crueler than no, and no is sometimes kinder than yes.

When to worry and when to sleep.

In another letter dated two days after her first one (Nov. 10, 1981) my friend, alluding to the constant spiritual turmoil in her soul, writes, “My lamp is filled with so much oil. Now it would be wise of me to be at peace and fall asleep."

That great Lady Sophie knows not only when to say yes and when to say no, she also knows when to stay awake worrying, and when to be at peace and fall asleep. With their lamps precariously flickering, the bridesmaids, who brought no oil with them, were foolish to fall asleep. They should have been wide awake worrying. They should have been up looking for a filling station. But the five who took care to bring oil with them were wise to be at peace and fall asleep.

When we have been mindful and have taken care, when we have been responsible and have done all that we could do, then Lady Sophie bids us to put worry away and be at peace and fall asleep. There is a wisdom that does not sleep, and there is a wisdom that does sleep. There is a wisdom that worries and a wisdom that puts worry away.

Conclusion

A time for everything

Lady Sophie in the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a season and a time for everything under God’s sun:

A time for wounding and for healing,

A time for tearing down and for building up,

A time for scattering and for gathering,

A time for finding and for losing,

A time for keeping silence and for speaking up,

A time for loving and for hating,

A time for making war and for making peace."

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

And this morning Lady Sophie adds to her long litany:

There is a time not only to say yes but also no.

And there is a time to stay awake worrying

And a time to trim our lamps and fall peacefully asleep.