Seeking Wisdom

  In the book of Sirach, chapter 24, Wisdom "sings her own praises":

From the mouth of the Most High I came forth, and mistlike the covered the earth...come to me, all you that yearn for me, and be filled with my fruits.

I still remember the day I fell in love with Wisdom.  I was in the 8th grade when the nun gave us images of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Mine was the Aladdin's Lamp with a small flame imposed above its spout.  Above the image was the word Sapientia, Latin for "Wisdom."  As I colored (or perhaps copied) the image (I don't remember), I remember wanting Wisdom more than anything else.  I'm not sure I knew exactly what it was, but I thirsted for it greatly. (The power of art).

Many many years after that, as I began reading the Bible, I discovered all the passages in Proverbs, Wisdom, and Sirach that speak of Wisdom, and I again yearned for that Gift.  Wisdom describes herself as "fragrant balm, precious myrrh, like the odor of incense, a tree of life for those who find it, sweeter than honey" ….and the list goes on and on.  Someday I need to compile that list and keep it above my desk.

One of my favorite passages has always been the end of Chapter 24 of Sirach:

     He who eats of me will hunger still; he who drinks of me will thirst for more; he who obeys me will not be put to shame; he who serves me will never fail.

    All this is true of the book of the Most High's covenant, the Law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the community of Jacob.  It overflows like the Phison, with wisdom--like the Tigris in the days of the new fruits.  It runs over, like the Euphrates, with understanding, like the Jordan at harvest time.  It sparkles like the Nile with knowledge, like the Gihon at vintage time.  The first man never finished comprehending wisdom, nor will the last succeed in fathoming her.  For deeper than the sea are her thoughts; her counsels, than the great abyss.

     Now I, like a rivulet from her stream, channeling the waters into a garden, said to myself, "I will water my plants, my flower bed I will drench"; and suddenly this rivulet of mine became a river, then this stream of mine, a sea.  Thus do I send my teachings forth shining like the dawn, to become known afar off.  Thus do I pour out instruction like prophecy and bestow it on generations to come.

I cannot think of a better way to channel Wisdom into our own gardens than to read one chapter a day of the books of Wisdom and Sirach.  Suddenly, this rivulet will become a flowing stream in our own hearts and begin to flow out of us into the world around us.