Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Lady Wisdom

 

Like children we begin today a countdown to Christmas with the "O Antiphons." We are most familiar with these as the basis for the Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Today we invite Wisdom. It is remarkable in the male dominated society of ancient Israel that Wisdom is personified as a woman. "Strongly she reaches from one end of the world to the other and she orders all things well (Wisdom 8:1). "Wisdom speaks her own praises....'I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and I covered the earth like a mist (Sirach 24:1&3).
Wisdom shows us that God is the center of all that is. She teaches us how to do the right thing at the right time.
"O Wisdom, O holy Word of God,
you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care.
Come and show your people the way to salvation."
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