“The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom” – Genesis 3:6

He Qi – Losing Paradise

What type of wisdom was Eve seeking? Fr. Ron Rolheiser writes about a young girl he met, just 18 years old, who was suffering from cancer and weighing less than 100 pounds because of the treatments. The long-range prognosis was iffy, at best, and her body and spirit didn’t belie that, though friends and family did. She was surrounded on every side by attention, affection, concern, and the sense that everyone cared. She was very ill, but she was loved. I got to know her a little that day and somewhat more in the months and years that followed. Her family and others prayed hard for her, storming heaven for a cure. Those prayers, along with the medical treatments, did their work. Her new health is more than physical. It’s too a thing of soul, a color, a depth, a wisdom. Asked publicly by her friends if, given a choice, would she give the illness back to have the life she could have had without it, she replied: “No, I wouldn’t give it back. Through it, I learned about love.” The wisdom gained by her was that ordinary life is best seen against a bigger horizon, that life is deeper and more joy-filled when it isn’t taken for granted, and that love is more important even than health and life itself. This is a wisdom we should pray fills our hearts and souls.  

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