Jynessa was just 13 years old when she smoked her first joint on a dare from her older sister. By age 17, she was an addict. In just four years, she had gone from a high-achieving, straight- A student and varsity softball catcher, to a high school senior who couldn’t handle more than four classes because she smoked marijuana several times a day.[1] Jynessa would be the first to tell you that she made bad choices. Our readings today are all about choices, but especially about how to make wise choices.In our first reading from the Book of Wisdom, King Solomon is given a choice: riches or wisdom? Solomon chose wisdom and soon discovered that “all good things came to him in her company, and countless riches at her hand.” Solomon made a good choice. In our Gospel, the rich man was also given a choice: treasures on earth or treasures in heaven? He chose earthly treasures, “and went away sad.” The rich man made a bad choice. Our readings teach us that the difference between a good choice and a bad choice is wisdom.
Wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit that enables us to know God’s purpose and plan. “Wisdom is not a reflection of academic brilliance but a consequence of an eager desire to do God’s will and give him glory.”[2] Wisdom helps us discern right from wrong. It helps us navigate difficult and contentious issues – to make good choices and avoid bad choices. Wisdom encourages us to live as Jesus taught us. Wisdom leads us to eternal life.
So how do we get ourselves some of this wisdom? Well, “[a]cquiring true wisdom consists of trusting God and allowing him to lead and inspire us. . . . [W]isdom involves the effort to know the truth about history and the natural sciences as well as philosophy and theology.”[3] In short, obtaining wisdom requires a lot of humility and a little effort. But God in his great mercy has given us all of the tools we need to obtain his wisdom. These tools include scripture, our consciences and wise people.
Let’s start with Scripture. As our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, “the word of God is living and effective.” God’s word in sacred scripture speaks to all people in all times and in all circumstances. Scripture is filled with God’s Wisdom. We just need to crack open the Good Book to find it. Our conscience – it’s is our most secret core and sanctuary. In our conscience we’re alone with God whose voice echoes in our depths.[4] “The well-informed conscience has a genuine integrity that cannot be dismissed.”[5] That’s why we’re under a moral obligation to adhere to the cry of our well-informed conscience in all circumstances. Inform your conscience and listen to it. As Pope Francis warned just the other day, “When the devil manages to numb your conscience, he has won a real victory.”[6]
God has also given us the gift of wise people. Wise people certainly can include those who have studied history, the natural sciences, philosophy or theology, but most importantly, wise people are those who learn from their mistakes, who inform and listen to their consciences and who make wise choices more often than not. Wise people tell you what you need to hear, which may not always be what you want to hear. But they always do it lovingly – the way Jesus spoke to the rich man in today’s Gospel. Surround yourself with wise people, listen to them, and never dismiss the elderly. Just because they may not be able to maneuver their way around a smartphone doesn’t mean that they aren’t wiser than you are.
Life is filled with difficult choices. ONE VOICE, the coalition of local law enforcement and faith community leaders of which Monsignor Randy is a member, has asked that we address a particular difficult choice that our young people increasingly face right here in Hunterdon County: marijuana use. With the push in certain states to legalize recreational marijuana, our society has become somewhat numb to its dangers, particularly its danger to teens and young adults. Here are some facts:
- One in six adolescents who ever try marijuana will become addicted;[7]
- Adolescents who smoke marijuana once a week over a two-year period are almost six times more likely than nonsmokers to drop out of school and over three times less likely to attend college;[8]
- Persistent marijuana use from adolescence into young adulthood can result in verbal, learning, memory and attention deficits that can be permanent;[9]
- Today’s marijuana is five to ten times more potent than the marijuana available in the 1960s and 70s.[10]
There are many more scary facts out there and also a lot of information that suggests that marijuana isn’t harmful at all. What I can tell you is that I didn’t just copy a bunch one-liners into this homily. I made sure that I found several respectable sources for each fact I mentioned – scientific, peer-reviewed studies that I’ve cited here in my text. From what I’ve seen, information claiming that marijuana is potentially dangerous is largely supported by research scientists, medical clinicians and law enforcement officials. Information claiming that marijuana is harmless is largely promoted by people who want to smoke more marijuana and by people who will profit from its wide-spread recreational use. I’ve weighed the evidence, I’ve considered my own observations, and I’ve examined my conscience on the issue. For what it’s worth, I’m convinced that recreational marijuana use can be very harmful, especially in adolescents and young adults. And if you don’t believe me, just ask Jynessa.
Like Jynessa, our teens and young adults will be given a choice: smoke marijuana or don’t smoke marijuana? When faced with that choice, I hope you’ll turn to your well-informed conscience before you choose. Let’s face it, if someone hands you a joint, you probably won’t say, “Hold on a second while I crack open the Bible and call my mother and Deacon Mike for advice,” so I hope you’ll inform your conscience with the wisdom of scripture and the counsel of wise people long before you’re ever given that choice. And always remember that you’re never alone. God speaks to you in your conscience at all times, in all places and in all circumstances, especially when you’re being tempted with a bad choice. Listen to him and – please, please, please – make wise choices.
[1]
Jenny Brundin, “Addicted Teen Struggles to Break Marijuana Habit,” Colorado Public Radio, March 20, 2014, http://www.cpr.org/news/story/addicted-teen-struggles-break-marijuana-habit.
[2]
“The Book of Wisdom,” Didache Bible
(San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2014), note, Wisdom 7: 6.
[3] Id. at note, Wisdom 7:7-21.
[4]
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1776.
[5]
John W. Martens, “The Spirit of Wisdom,”
America, vol. 214, no. 9 (October 5, 2015) at 38.
[6]
Pope Francis, Homily at Daily Mass (October 9, 2015).
[7]
J.C. Anthony, L.A. Warner and R.C. Kessler, “Comparative Epidemiology of
Dependence on Tobacco, Alcohol, Controlled Substances and Inhalants: Basic Findings from the National Comorbidity
Survey,” Experiential and Clinical Psychopharmacology (1994) at 2; Wayne Hall, “What
Has Research Over the Past Two Decades Revealed About the Adverse Health Effects
of Recreational Cannabis Use?” Addiction,
vol. 110 at 23, 30.
[8]
D.M. Ferguson, et al., “Cannabis and Educational
Achievements,” Addiction, vol. 98,
no.12 (2003); Hall at 24, 30.
[9]
M.H. Meier, “Persistent Cannabis Uses Show Neuropsychological Decline from
Childhood to Midlife,” Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences (2012); Hall at 23-24, 30.
[10]
M.A. El Sohly, S.A. Ross, Z. Mehmedic, R. Arafat, B. Yi and B.F. Banahan, “Potency
Trends of Delta9-THC and other Cannabinoids in Confiscated Marijuana from 1980-1997,”
Journal of Forensic Sciences, vol. 45,
no. 1 (2004) at 24-30; Z. Mehmedic, S. Chandra, D. Slade, H. Denham, S. Foster,
A.S. Patel, et. al, “Potency Trends
of Delta9-THC and other Cannabinoids in Confiscated Marijuana from 1993-2008,” Forensic Science, vol. 55 (2010) at
1209-17.
