Universities are regarded as seats of learning, and those who guide young people of outstanding ability look round for the best seat of learning to which they can send them. . .  As Christians we are not all committed to great learning, and many of us have neither the ability nor the circumstances in which to engage in higher studies.  What we are, each of us, called to and invited to find is Wisdom. . . 

. . . Jesus is God’s Wisdom made Man.  This divine Wisdom communicated to men is the only form of learning that is the goal for which we were all created.  We are to possess and be possessed by God made Man, i.e. by Jesus Christ, God’s Incarnate Wisdom.  This is a Wisdom not of head alone but of heart too.  It is possessed not by intelligence but by love and by faith together.  But it does have to be acquired. . .

Mary, Our Lady, is the Seat of Wisdom.  It is to her we go to learn the Wisdom we need.  It is from her that we receive the Son or Wisdom of God.  When this Seat of Wisdom was set up, the process was very simple and very beautiful.  It was described in the magnificent passage from Luke’s Gospel [in which we are told of] a brief conversation between a special messenger direct from God and the most lovely young woman who every lived; and Mary received the Wisdom of God into her mind and heart and body, not by means of deep study or research or reading, but by listening to God and saying Yes to Him.  “I am the handmaid of the Lord; let what you have said be done unto me.”

When the Apostles were preparing to convert the world, they had to wait for Wisdom from on high, and as they made their final preparations, it was not by studying or attending lectures . . . What they did was to join in “continuous prayer, together with Mary the Mother of Jesus.”

We are living through a period in the history of the Church and of the world when it is particularly difficult to hold on to true Wisdom because of the confusion of many voices and influences on all sides.  The faith of many has grown cold, and false ideas are being proposed as if they were the teaching of Christ and His Church.  We must listen to the authentic voice of the Pope and the Bishops in union with him, but the greatest safeguard we can have for our faith and its purity and truth is to attend not a seat of learning . . . but the Seat of Wisdom. . .

The Holy Rosary gives us a deep entry into the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Seat of Wisdom, where she shares her Son with us as we meditate on the Mysteries of His life, death, and resurrection.

When Mass was celebrated in Latin, some devout Catholics said the Rosary during Mass.  It was not altogether unsuitable, since meditating on the Mysteries of Christ with His Mother’s help during the Sacrifice of the Mass was not out of place by any means.  It would be quite out of place for us to say the Rosary during the Liturgy these days, as we are all taking a conscious and active part in the actual prayers and ceremonies . . . but the Rosary is a perfect preparation for Mass and a perfect thanksgiving after Mass for those who wish to use it.

Having Rosary beads, duly blessed, with us at all times is a sign of our appreciation of our Catholic faith and of our love for Our Lady and her favorite prayer. . .  In these most dangerous and difficult times, let us pray a great deal together with Mary the Mother of Jesus and try to appreciate the precious gift, the Holy Rosary of Our Lady that enrolls us in the Seat of Wisdom.