Divine Office Reflections | Thursday in the Third Week of Advent

O Sapentia

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. (Evening Prayer Antiphon, Canticle of Mary)

We read in the Baltimore Catechism that, “We receive the gift of wisdom to give us a relish (or desire) for the things of God and to direct our whole life and all our actions to His honor and glory.” St Thomas Aquinas says, “Among all human pursuits, the pursuit of wisdom is more perfect, more noble, more useful, and more full of joy… because through wisdom we arrive at the kingdom of immortality.” Lastly, according to St Augustine, “The true wisdom of man is piety.”

St Paul states as a matter of fact that Christ is the wisdom of God (1Cor1:24). After all, who is Jesus Christ, but the gift of God who inflames our hearts with a holy desire for the things of God and directs our lives to the honor and glory of God? Or from whom have we received the kingdom of immortality, if not from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? And what is true piety, if not that which is measured by total conformity to the self-offering of Jesus Christ to His Heavenly Father on the Cross?

So, if God orders all things according to Wisdom, the holy Word of God, otherwise known as Jesus Christ – if this is how all creation is governed – then when our heart’s desire is God alone, when the pursuit of holy Wisdom is our one true aim, and when we revere the name of the Lord and acknowledge his glory, we can say with confidence that our life is being conformed to God’s governance over all creation.

In these final days of Advent, let us beg the Lord for holy Wisdom so that when Christ appears on Christmas morn we might recognize Him as the One who already governs our hearts with his strong yet tender care.