From: Proverbs 8:22-31
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[22] The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
[23] Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
[24] When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
[25] Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
[26] before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
[27]When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
[28] when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
[29]when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
[30]then I was beside him, like a master workman;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
[31]rejoicing in his inhabited world
an delighting in the sons of men.
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Commentary:
1-36 The first part of the book ends with this third, splendid poem in praise of
personified Wisdom. As in the first poem (1:20-33) Wisdom speaks in public, for
all to hear (vv. 1-3); her message is not meant for a privileged few; it is addressed
to everyone (vv. 32-36).
Wisdom has every reason to call for attention, for the tuition she offers is about
noble things, and highly useful; there is nothing twisted or false about it (vv. 4-
14). Interpersonal relations work well if wisdom is allowed to do her work; if kings
and magistrates seek her sincerely, she guides them to rule evenhandedly (vv.
15-21). But she also operates outside the sphere of human relationships; we see
her present when order was imposed on chaos, to form the universe as we know
it; from the very start she was there with God (vv. 22-31).
This poem, with its solemn language, and imagery taken from traditional Israelite
cosmogony, shows the relationship between wisdom and the creation of the
world and of man. Wisdom is present with God at the creation and what delights
her most is her relationship with mankind. Here she is depicted as having the
features of a person: this prepares the way for us to grasp, later on, as Revela-
tion progresses, the mystery of the Blessed Trinity.
The prologue of the Gospel of St John will use language similar to that used here
to describe the relationship between God and the Word (vv. 22-30, cf. Jn 1:1; v.
35, cf. Jn 1:4). There status held by Wisdom in this poem will be attributed to
Christ in New Testament texts: in the Letter to the Colossians he is described as
“the first-born of all creation (Col 1:15) and in the book of Revelation as “the
beginning of God’s creation” (Rev. 3:14). It is with this meaning that the Church’s
liturgy uses Proverbs 8:22-31 on the solemnity of Trinity Sunday (cycle C).
>From the sixth century onwards, this passage appears in the Mass of the Birth
of Mary (8 September) – showing that the Church recognizes that, just as the
Word is God for all eternity, and is active in the creation of the world, the Mother
of the Saviour must have been in some way present in the mind of God “at the
beginning” (vv. 22-23). “Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the
masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For
the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the
Father found the dwelling-place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among
men. In this sense the Church’s Tradition has often read the most beautiful
texts on wisdom in relation to Mary (cf. Prov 8:1-9:6; Sir 24). Mary is acclaimed
and represented in the liturgy as the “Seat of Wisdom” (Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 721).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Romans 5:1-5
Reconciliation Through Christ’s Sacrifice, the Basis of our Hope
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Commentary:
1-5. In this very moving passage God helps us see “the divine
interlacing of the three theological virtues which form the backing
upon which the true life of every Christian man or woman has to be
woven” ([Blessed] J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 205). Faith, hope and
charity act in us in turn, causing us to grow in the life of grace.
Thus, faith leads us to know and be sure of things we hope for (cf.
Hebrews 11:1); hope ensures that we shall attain them, and enlivens our
love of God; charity, for its part, gives us energy to practise the
other two theological virtues. The definitive outcome of this growth
in love, faith and hope is the everlasting peace that is of the essence
of eternal life.
As long as we are in this present life we do have peace to some
degree—but with tribulation. Therefore, the peace attainable in this
life does not consist in the contentment of someone who wants to have
no problems, but rather in the resoluteness full of hope (”character”)
of someone who manages to rise above suffering and stays faithful
through endurance. Suffering is necessary for us, because it is the
normal way to grow in virtue (cf. James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:5-7); that is
why it is providential (cf. Philippians 1:19; Colossians 1:24) and
leads to joy and happiness (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
“A person who hopes for something and strives eagerly to attain it is
ready to endure all kinds of difficulty and distress. Thus, for
example, a sick person if he is eager to be healthy, is happy to take
the bitter medicine which will cure him. Therefore, one sign of the
ardent hope that is ours thanks to Christ is that we glory not only in
the hope of future glory, but also in the afflictions which we suffer
in order to attain it” (St. Thomas Aquinas, “Commentary on Romans, ad.
loc.”).
A person who lives by faith, hope and charity realizes that suffering
is not something meaningless but rather is designed by God for our
perfecting. Perfection consists “in the bringing of our wills so
closely into conformity with the will of God that, as soon as we
realize He wills anything, we desire it ourselves with all our might,
and take the bitter with the sweet, knowing that to be His Majesty’s
will [...]. If our love is perfect, it has this quality of leading us
to forget our own pleasure in order to please Him whom we love. And
that is indeed what happens” (St. Teresa of Avila, “Book of
Foundations”, Chapter 5).
5. The love which St. Paul speaks of here is, at one and the same time,
God’s love for us—manifested in His sending the Holy Spirit—and the
love which God places in our soul to enable us to love Him. The Second
Council of Orange, quoting St. Augustine, explains this as follows: “To
love God is entirely a gift of God. He, without being loved, loves us
and enabled us to love Him. We were loved when we were still
displeasing to Him, so that we might be given something whereby we
might please Him. So it is that the Spirit of the Father and the Son,
whom we love with the Father and the son, pours charity into our
hearts” (Second Council of Orange, “De Gratia”, Canon 25; cf. St.
Augustine, “In Ioann. Evang.”, 102, 5).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.