The Wisdom of God

A Reflection on the First Reading for June 12th, 2022:
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

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Proverbs
8.22-31

Thus says the Wisdom of God:

“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.

“Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth --
when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.

“When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
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,
then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of Adam.”
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The human race has spilled an ocean of ink on the topic of the Bible as a literary work. We write books and papers about it. We attend conferences and courses on it. We keep track of its record as a bestseller and measure it against other books’ sales. (No contest there, by the way.
According to the Guinness Book, the Good Book is also the most popular book, not only in the
history of the printed word but every day of every year.)


The Bible is comprised of a wide range of literary genres, including songs, letters, genealogies,
laws, parables, prophecies and prayers. Without a doubt, it offers up some of the most stirring
and stunning poetic imagery ever committed to paper. Take, for example, this Sunday’s first
reading, which comes from the Book of Proverbs.


In it we meet Wisdom, whom Solomon personifies as a woman and with whom God is in
constant company. She is beautiful, ancient, “the first of His acts of long ago.” Wisdom alone is
witness to the beginning of the world, when God made “the heavens” and “the world’s first
bits of soil.” Hers were the eyes that watched as God “drew a circle on the face of the deep …
when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress His command.”
God creates nothing without Wisdom by his side “like a master worker.” Daily she is God’s
delight, and she in turn rejoices in God, in creation and in us His creatures. Wisdom is alive
and part of everything God has made.


The passage is a breathtaking account of the inseparability of God and Wisdom. The writing is magnetic.


As we all know, however, the Bible is more than a literary work. It is, as we affirm in Mass
every day, the Word of the Lord. So, what could the Lord be saying to us in this passage?
These are a few of my thoughts.


First, wisdom and God go together: if we are seeking wisdom, we will find it perfected in God.
Second, wisdom is present in God’s creation. God designed the natural world; He did not slap it
together. Even the simplest thing holds within in itself evidence of order and the good
judgment of God. Third, God created the world with joy — overflowing, abundant joy, and this
means that God created us in joy. He delights in us.

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God. Wisdom. Design. Joy. Each accompanies the other and, in drawing near to God, we have access to them all.

​

Donna Davis
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