Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! I'm reading the Bible clear through this year, and I invite you to read along with me. But first, let us pray:
God of my fathers, Lord of mercy,
who have made all things by your word
and in your wisdom have created people
to rule this world that you have made,
and to render judgment in integrity of heart:
Give me Wisdom, the attendant at your throne,
nd reject me not from among your children;
for I am your servant, the child of your handmaid,
a weak human being,
and lacking in comprehension of your Word and your will.
Send your Wisdom from the holy heavens,
from your glorious throne,
to be with me, to guide me,
to enlighten me, to lead me to you.
(Based on Wis 9)
Today's chapters are Proverbs 1-3
Today we begin a new Wisdom book, that of Proverbs! As we shifted genres from history to poetic reflection with Job, now we shift genres again. The "proverbs" of the Book of Proverbs are not little one-liners like "a stitch in time saves nine" or "absence makes the heart grow fonder," but a variety of forms of received folk wisdom, often in Hebrew poetic forms like couplets, sometimes with additional features like contrast or parallelism. There are stock figures, especially the wise man and the fool.
Wisdom itself is often personified as a woman. This has led to the development of a Marian tradition (Mary as "Seat of Wisdom," as a "throne" with Jesus, the Incarnate Eternal Wisdom of the Father sitting in her lap). But more profoundly, we will find that Wisdom is proper to God himself: we can speak of Jesus as Wisdom, the Word by whom all things were made, and also of the Holy Spirit of Wisdom.
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