Hearth & Altar

Shall the axe boast against the one who hews with it, or the saw exalt itself above him who wields it? Assyria had been sent by God to discipline an unfaithful people - a legitimate mission carried with illegitimate pride. The rod was real. The mission was real. But the rod forgot that it was a rod. It began to boast: by my own power I have done this. By my own wisdom. And the Lord, who sent the rod, turns to address the rod's pride.

The tool that believes it is the craftsman has forgotten the hand that holds it. The human power that forgets the divine commission becomes the axe boasting against the hewer. And eventually the Lord sends wasting sickness against the fat ones - the pride that has swollen beyond what the mission warranted.

I give praise to you Father Lord of heaven and earth for you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little ones. Saint Bonaventure - one of the great theological intellects of the medieval Church - would have recognized exactly this: the wisdom of God is not accessible to the axe that has forgotten who is wielding it. The little ones receive what the self-exalting miss.

The household that holds its work, its talent, its wisdom as a tool in the hand of the one who holds it - that household is preserved from the axe-error.

• For our family, that we would hold every gift and capacity as a tool in the hand of the craftsman - not claiming the achievement as our own but acknowledging whose hand is wielding us, we pray to the Lord.
• For those in positions of power who have forgotten that they are rods in the hand of God's purposes, that the wasting-sickness-against-the-fat-ones would arrive as a corrective before it arrives as a judgment, we pray to the Lord.
• On the feast of Saint Bonaventure, for the gift of theological wisdom that does not exalt itself above its source - the learning that remains in the posture of the little one before the Father, we pray to the Lord.
• In this Precious Blood month, for the Precious Blood poured out by the one who knew that all things had been handed over to him and did not exalt himself above the Father's will, we pray to the Lord.

No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. The revelation is given, not earned. Name one specific area where you have been approaching the knowledge of God as something to achieve rather than something to receive. Receive it today.

You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little ones. Your children's receptivity to the Father's revelation is an asset, not a deficit. The formation that preserves their little-one posture is more valuable than the formation that rushes them to sophistication.