The Many Attributes of Wisdom

The sacred writer uses no fewer than twenty-one adjectives to describe Wisdom in today’s first reading.  It goes without saying that to try to grasp each of these descriptive words or phrases individually would involve a great deal of prayer, meditatition and even contemplation. However, it might help us to remember that in describing Wisdom the author is describing God. 

One way to understand this long list of adjectives is to remember God’s motivation in creating us and the world we live it.  Indeed, the entire body of Hebrew Scripture and the Christian Scriptures as well reveal that God’s purpose or motivation in setting creation in motion was to enter into a relationship with a chosen people.  God is not a solitary person.  God is a community of persons whom we name Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The very fact that the Father lives in relationship with the Son and the Holy Spirit tells us that what God desires of us is to enter into a relationship with the Three Persons of the Trinity. 

Consequently, rather than trying to explain what the elements of this description mean, it is far more important to realize God’s intention, God’s will for us.  Only then can we begin to grasp the full extent of Wisdom.

Sometimes we refer to Wisdom as something that comes with age.  Older people are often referred to as Wisdom Figures. While an older person might understand the need for a right relationship with God more clearly than a younger person, this does not mean that young people cannot possess the kind of Wisdom of which we hear in today’s Scriptures.  All of us are called to holiness, young and old, male or female.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator