Rev. Cwirla's Blogosphere

In preparation for the first of the seven "Golden Nights," I'm rerunning the O Antiphons from last year, slightly revised, beginning with today and Holy Wisdom.

 

December 17
Readings:  Proverbs 8 / Corinthians 1:18-31



O Sapientia,
quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter,
suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

O Wisdom,
proceeding from the mouth of the Most High,
pervading and permeating all creation,
mightily ordering all things:
 Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Wisdom is God’s spokeman, the One who speaks the truth about God from the mouth of God.  By wisdom the simple gain prudence, and the foolish gain understanding.  Wisdom is more precious than jewels; wisdom’s gifts are worth more than gold.  Wisdom is a gift from God.  For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.  Wisdom is knowledge and understanding shaped by the fear of the Lord.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Wisdom permeates the created order.  Through Wisdom all things were created.  Wisdom was with God before all things, and through Wisdom all things were made.  The beauty of the stars, the splendor of the seas, the marvelous variety of birds and fishes, the intricacies of a DNA double-helix, the mystery of distant galaxies.  These are Wisdom’s fingerprints.  Science can dust for the Designer’s fingerprints, but it cannot see nor can it comprehend the designing hidden Hand.  Holy Wisdom is not revealed to reason and sense through science but through the Word.

Man turned away from God seeks knowledge without the Wisdom of God.  Information and facts without faith.  Study the creation without worshipping the Creator.  Worship the creature instead of the Creator.  “You can be like God,” said the original Lie.  “You can have knowledge without God.  Just reach in for yourself and grab it.”  That is not the way of Wisdom but Folly, foolishness, unbelief.  “The fool says in his heart there is no God.”  The end of Folly is death.

Jesus Christ is Holy Wisdom incarnate,  in the flesh.  He is the “power of God and the wisdom of God.”  “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  He reflects the very glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature, upholding the universe by His word of power.”  He is the “glue” that holds the universe together.  Your cells, your DNA, a table, a chair - all hold together by the power of His Word.  He is what the scientists search for and the theologians long to understand.  The ordering Wisdom of the universe.  The Intelligence of the Designer.  His name is Jesus Christ - the One born in Bethlehem who hung on a cross and rose from the dead.

He teaches us the way of prudence, the way of Wisdom that leads to life.  That way is the way of His cross, of dying and rising in Jesus, of repentance and faith.  This way is foolishness to the wordly-wise, yet to those made wise through His Word and Spirit, it is God’s holy wisdom to save and to raise from the dead. 

And then those who are wise in Him will shine as the brightness of the heavens.
 

Artwork:  Spiral galaxy as seen through the Hubble telescope. 

Artist:  God