Polly Want a Cracker

Learning the virtues of wisdom and humility

08/04/2020

Mt 15:1-2, 10-14 Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.” He summoned the crowd and said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.” Then his disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He said in reply, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Yesterday a parishioner sent me an email asking my opinion about cremation versus burying the body. Have you wondered about which way you will leave this world? In the email he quoted a line from the latest book by Scott Hahn called Hope To Die, where Hahn seemed to champion burial over burning, that is, he wasn’t crazy about cremation. But what impressed me most about the quotation was Hahn’s humility, a reluctance to say he’s right, or has all the answers. Hahn readily recognized: “We think we know what the Incarnation and the Trinity are, but when we get to heaven the parrot’s words, ‘Polly want a cracker’ shed as much light on these holy mysteries as the words we use to talk about them here and now” (Hope To Die, 42). That reminds me of the same humility expressed by the 4th century B.C. Greek philosopher Plato, who said (I’m paraphrasing): The more I know, the more I know that I don’t know. In other words, the wiser you become the humbler you become.

Wisdom and humility are the two sides of the same coin of holiness, and its opposite is adolescent arrogance. That is, both wisdom and humility are absent in the arrogant adolescent. After a life-time of prayer and pondering, we finally discover that things like life and death and especially the mysteries of our faith are far beyond the human mind to master. At the end of the day, and at the end of our life, maybe the most we can say with confidence is: “This is our best guess.” Hahn explains further: “The realities to which these words point are infinitely greater, infinitely more beautiful and infinitely more astounding than the words we use to describe them” (Hope To Die, 42). Can you say “Polly want a cracker”?

This double deficiency of wisdom and humility plagues the Pharisees in the gospel today. The disciples try to warn Jesus that in offending them, he risks making powerful enemies. Jesus calmly replies: “Let them alone, they are blind guides of the blind. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” What caused the Pharisees blindness? It was a form of adolescent arrogance, a sense of superiority and thinking they knew it all. But just like the tragedy of being a teenager is ignorance of your own ignorance, so, too, the Pharisees are blind to their own blindness. They parade around like peacocks for people to admire, and they squawk like silly parrots: “Polly want a cracker?” In other words, they lack both wisdom and humility, thinking they have God in a box. When someone thinks they are that self-sufficient and all-knowing, it’s very hard to help them, that is, until they fall into a pit and cry for help.

Today, August 4, is the feast day of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of poor parish priests like me. He was born on May 8, 1786 and died August 4, 1859, and served as a priest in Ars, France. One of my favorite stories of the “Cure d’Ars” is when he faced the jealousy and opposition of his brother priests. They wanted him defrocked as a priest because of how popular he was as a confessor. He would hear confessions for 14 hours a day and people would flock from all over France to confess their sins.

One day, the priests started a petition alleging that Fr. John Vianney was not worthy to be a parish priest. St. John Vianney asked to see the petition and promptly signed his own name to the petition. He knew better than anyone how unworthy he was to be a priest. All honest priests do. So, if you all start such a petition here at I.C. to get rid of me, please give me a chance to sign it as well. Notice the joint virtues of wisdom and humility in St. John Vianney’s life: no adolescent arrogance and every confession helped the people to grow in humility and wisdom too. Every time we confess our sins, we sign our own petition declaring we are unworthy to be called Christians.

May the prayers of St. John Vianney help all of us grow in humility and wisdom. May the humble and holy Cure d’Ars help us overcome our adolescent arrogance in thinking we know everything and we don’t need anyone to help us. At the end of the day, and at the end of our life, maybe all we have done is repeat like that precocious parrot: “Polly want a cracker?”

Praised be Jesus Christ!