Advent Week 3 - O Wisdom

O Sapientia

These are the last days of the Advent season, the days of the “O” antiphons and this evening we will be calling upon the LORD who is Wisdom – to come and to teach us the way of truth.

          “O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High.

          You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner.

          O come, to teach us the way of truth.”

We know that on the day of our Confirmation, we were blessed with the gift of wisdom when we received the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  So it may be truly said, that the way of wisdom – the desire for wisdom – is nothing other than a desire for God.  So, in these days of anticipation of the LORD – God Himself, becoming even one of us – it is fitting to remember that wisdom is very closely related also to wonder.

When Christmas is held to be a season of wonder and amazement at the incredible humility of God; when we enter into the mystery with hearts open to receiving and believing in all that the LORD has in His Heart for us – then also, our eyes, too, being to see everything more clearly: we begin to see the truth and through the wisdom implanted in us – we can discern the meaning of all life: the truth about our own lives; and to value absolutely everything as a most precious and divine gift.  It is possible at last, to hear the Word of the LORD and to know that His word to us and for us, is a word of unimaginable, wonderful and amazing love.

How does one respond to such love?  We could not even hope to merit such a tremendous gift, and yet it is ours unconditionally.  So how can we, so to say, express our appreciation to the LORD for all He has invited us to receive? 

If we are moved to respond authentically to such a great love, the words of St Paul in today’s second reading at Mass – taken from his First Letter to the Thessalonians – seem to capture the essence of how to live this life wisely:

          “Be happy at all times; pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God. …

          …  Never try to suppress the Spirit or treat the gift of prophecy with contempt;

          think before you do anything – hold on to what is good

          and avoid every form of evil … … …”

The wonderful thing about the gift of faith seems to me to be that through it, we awaken in ourselves – or we are more disposed to desire to live our lives authentically, and according to the truth.

What better gift, then, could we ask of the LORD, than the gift of wisdom … for ourselves and for those for whom we care? 

We pray for the Church and all her members: on his birthday, we pray especially for Pope Francis, that he may be guided in all things by the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Truth, and that – together with him, we too may grow in our love for wisdom and truth.

The Great 'O Antiphons - O Wisdom - 17th Dec

O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High.  You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner.  O come to teach us the way of truth.

We are immediately reminded of the wonderful passages in the Old Testament which speak of Wisdom.  There we read of Wisdom as proceeding from God, as being begotten by Him, as being the beloved who at the beginning stood beside Him, assisting at the creation – ‘ever at play in His presence and delighting to be with the children of men.’

These passages concerning Wisdom can be applied to the Word who in the fullness of time took on our human nature and pitched his tent among us.

While in the Old Testament God’s Wisdom was manifested by His governance of the created universe in a strong yet gentle manner, being lenient and merciful to all because He loves all that exists – it is in the crucified Christ on the Cross that we experience the full revelation of divine Wisdom, of God’s infinite love and mercy for us human beings.  As St Paul tells us “God’s folly is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.  In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and of his fullness we have all received.  He has become our wisdom and our holiness.” (1 Corinthians)

O Eternal wisdom come and teach us the way of truth – He is Truth itself who leads us to all Truth – the truth about ourselves, about our world, about situations in which we find ourselves.

In spite of whatever pain and contradictions we experience in our own lives and in our broken, wounded and violent world may we never lose faith in the fact that His strong yet gentle power is at work and can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.  To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High.  You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner.  O come to teach us the way of truth.

O Antiphons - O Wisdom - 17th December 2105

Today we start our traditional Novena before Christmas with the’ Great O Antiphons’. May this prayer help us to enter into the wide opened Door of God’s Mercy, and to be real witnesses of God’s presence among us, not only by the preaching of the glad things of His coming but above all by revealing Him in our lives.

                                 O SAPIENTIA

O Wisdom you come fort from the mouth of the Most High, You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner. O comes to teach us the way of truth. Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus come.

O Wisdom

My previous relation with Wisdom was always cold and very weak. It mostly meant for me something very high, big, and far away - not useful for ordinary daily life or prayer. But preparing this reflection she placed her arms on me, and I heard her strong yet gentle heartbeat.

There was once a Jewish boy, who resisted learning the Torah. To his parents, nothing could have been more distressing .When the Chief Rabbi came to visit their home, the parents expressed to him their concern about their son. The Rabbi asked permission to place his arms around the boy. The parents agreed, moving aside. They watched and waited, expecting to hear some of advice from the Rabbi to the boy. But the only word they heard was silence, as they watched their son rest close to the Rabbi’s heart.

The next day the boy began to study the Torah. His passion for God’s word grew. Years later he himself became a wise and loving Rabbi. Many asked him whence his knowledge came. He simply said, ’’I put my ear close to the Chief Rabbi’s heart and in that moment I heard the heartbeat of God’’.

Wisdom revealed to us the depths of God’s heart. The ‘Wisdom’ to whom we cry is Jesus himself as St. Paul declared in his letter to the Corinthians ’’Christ…the wisdom of God.’’(1 Cor 1,24)He is our hearts desire, the one we long for and ask him to come to us and teach us the way of truth and life.

‘The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, a Spirit of wisdom and understanding a Spirit of counsel and power a Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord’ (Is11,2)

‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’. (Proverbs 9.10)That fearing of the Lord means fearing to run away from Him. It means fearing to seek refuge and joy and hope anywhere other than in God.

Others had pointed the way to life - He is the way and the life (J14.6)
Others had given promises, but ‘’all the promises of God find their yes in him (2Cor 1.20)

Others had offered God’s forgiveness, Jesus bought it by his death.

Therefore in him are "hid all the treasuries of wisdom and knowledge" (Col 2.3). To be near to his heart is the treasure of ultimate and eternal happiness.

O Antiphons - Advent 2013

From the 17th to the 23rd December each evening at Vespers we sing the great 'O Antiphons' before and after the Magnificat.  We would like to share with readers of this blog the various reflections on these antiphons prepared by sisters:

17^th December            O Sapientia   -  O Wisdom

 

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, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High.  You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner.  O come to teach us the way of prudence.

The liturgical texts from today invite me to thank God for His wonderful deeds, for the creation of the world and for the whole history of redemption, which is penetrated with His Wisdom.

St Matthew in the Gospel shows us a long and complicated genealogy with many people, men and women.  Each name hides a life story.  At the conclusion of it is the birth of Jesus.

I sometimes ask, like St John the Baptist, when I am surrounded be shadow and darkness; unanswered questions; by situations without solutions:

Does God know about me?

Are you the Messiah?

Are you the One who is to come or are we to expect someone else?  (Mt 11:3)

I cannot see the miracles that are happening.  But Jesus tells me: ‘The blind see again and the lame walk …’ It is the time of salvation.

The Church teaches:  God guides the world and my life in a mysterious way.  He guides everything along paths that only He knows, leading it to its perfection.  At no point in time does something that He has created fall out of His hands.

God influences both the great events of history and also the little events of our personal life, without reducing our freedom and making us mere marionettes in His eternal plans.  ‘In God we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28).  God is in everything we meet, in all the changes in our life, even in the painful events and the seemingly meaningless coincidences.  God wants to write straight even with the crooked lines of our life.  What He takes away from us and what He gives us; the ways in which He strengthens us and the ways in which He tests us – all these are arrangements and signs of His will.

St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891 – 1942) Edith Stein said:

            “What did not lie in my plan lay in God’s plan.  And the more often something like this

            happens to me, the livelier becomes the conviction of my faith that – from God’s

            perspective – nothing is accidental.”

I entrust all of us, and myself, into the hands of Divine Providence and pray for prudence to recognise what is right in every moment of daily life so that Jesus may be born!