Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool. Proverbs 26:1I recall a science fiction story years ago about a planet where the laws of physics were reversed in many ways. Things fell up, and liquids "froze" in high temperatures instead of low ones. It sounds silly, yes, but that is why they call it "fiction". Some things just do not go together in our minds or in the real world. In the book of Proverbs, King Solomon points out to us how this is true in many ways, and his illustrations are often a powerful testimony to this fact. One of my favorites is the one I quoted above: "like snow in summer".
We live in a day and age when fools are often honored, and this is because of the extreme nature of the confusion that pervades so much of our society. We have slowly, but steadily, turned away from the truth of God, and thus chosen to accept the lies of the Devil. The rejection of the things of God has increased exponentially in the recent years; even to the point of it being widely considered "insane" for a Catholic to hold the Church's traditional dogmas. I cannot count how many times I have had people look at me as though I had two heads when I affirmed, "yes, I do believe the Church's teaching on such and such".
A while back someone saw that I had five children and used that old line: "we know what causes that now--did you not get the memo?" When I respond to this type of comment by saying that I am happy with five children, and would be happy with five more if God chose to give them to us, I get all kinds of stares. Sometimes it is just the blank look that says, "I'm trying to figure out if you're joking or not". Other times, it is that look that says, "you're one of them". The worst, though, is the look that is the most common. That is when people have the expression that says "you poor idiot; I bet you also believe the earth is flat".
They are attacking the wisdom of God, and allowing the secular media and the high priests of science to control their beliefs. Back in logic classes I recall spending a good deal of time discussing the type of fallacy that attacks a position by merely ridiculing it. This is where someone does not actually have a reason to resist a position, so they resort to making fun of it and insulting it. Unfortunately this will convince many today; especially those people who prefer not to think for themselves.
Why does society honor people with foolish ideas, and scoff at those with wise ideas? Largely because society has itself become foolish. No I do not mean that people in society have become foolish (that is nothing new), I mean that society itself has chosen the path of foolishness. There has been a collective decision to head in this direction, and few have resisted. What else can you call it when someone can run for vice president of the United States claiming to be a "traditional Catholic" while denying numerous vital Catholic dogmas?
This widespread societal indulgence in foolishness was made clear to me recently when I had one of those moments of shock where I could not believe a story I had read in the news. The details of the story are not crucial (and there are thousands of others like it), because it would take any of us only a few minutes to find similar stories that would have sounded like ridiculous fiction merely thirty years ago. Examples of foolhardy behavior abound, and many think of it as no more than "the way things are today".
So here we are watching society willingly and knowingly choose that which is foolish. There is hope for the future, but that means that we have to work on wisdom. We have to work on it for our clergy, for parents, as well as for children. We all need an increase in wisdom, and God promises to give us that if we will but ask for it. Foolishness can only be promoted for so long before it crashes. After that crash, people will be looking for a better path, but will not know how to find it because they have indulged in foolishness for so long. That is where the Church comes in; that is where you can come in.
Be wise. Learn the wisdom of the Lord. Do not be like "snow in summer" but rather be like the life giving power of the sun. Shedding light on the truth so that a lost world can mend its ways is an essential duty for every one of us today. They may not listen to us much now, but when the time comes and they need guidance, we need to be there and be ready to lead.
