CONGREGATIO DIVINUM CARITAS

From the rich treasury of The Church's liturgy, today marks the beginning of the "O Antiphons".  These seven antiphons for the Magnificat lead us up to ChristMass and they express the increasing anticipation of The Church to greet the Incarnation of Our Lord on ChristMass day.  The first of these is...

O Sapientia

Latin:

O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,attingens a fine usque ad finem,fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

English:

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,reaching from one end to the other,mightily and sweetly ordering all things:Come to teach us the way of prudence.

This antiphon is reflective of the true significance of the Incarnation - God made man - literally "Emmanuel = God with us". 

The first line "O Wisdom coming forth from the mouth of the Most High" refers to Christ as "Wisdom" i.e. the "Logos" meaning "The Word" as referenced in the prologue to St John's Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1.  This is itself reflective of the "spirit" of God - not necessarily a reference to the Holy Spirit - but certainly referring to the creative power, the force and conceptualisation of the Divine Godhead i.e. the action of the Divine will such as that which created the world.  What is significant particularly is the phrase "forth from the mouth of the Most High" which when compared to the accounts of Genesis gives us a clearer understanding of this Wisdom.

The Hebrew word behind spirit that is similar to the Greek logos is ruach, and it means "air in motion." It is the same word for "breath." It also means "life." By resemblance to breath and air in motion, it means "spirit."  This is evidenced in the Creation account,

Genesis 1:1-9 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.?3 And God said, ?Let there be light,? and there was light.

God speaks and the creation happens... God breathes, and His breath creates what is His will, what is in His mind, His conceptualisation.  This "ruach" also "logos" also "Word" is Jesus Christ - its what we mean by "and the Word was made flesh," by the Incarnation - God made man.  The babe in the manger, is but the outward and visible sign of the inward and invisible miracle of the Incarnation - God made man; that which is the mind and will of God i.e. "Wisdom" referenced in the first line. 

The antiphon goes on to talk about the beginning and the end of things "reaching from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things" describing this which is both the "Wisdom"concept i.e. thought and the force that realises it.  Again there is a direct inference to St John's Prologue "In the beginning..." but also making the point that this "Wisdom" is not just the beginning but also the end...

You may remember that during the Easter Vigil the Paschal Candle is traced and then decorated with the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet - "A" = Alpha and "Ω" = Omega; meaning the beginning and the end.  The Paschal Candle of course represents Christ the "Light of the world" who illumines the darkness i.e. death, by His resurrection; from death then comes life, the beginning and the end are in Christ.

Also of course, the antiphon is referring to the eternal plan of salvation in the mind of God, conceived by God at the very beginning of time.  It is not by chance that the characters in the Nativity narrative are there - each and everyone was called and known by Him for this role - each and everyone of them had freewill, but they were so attuned to God, they so loved God, that they would accede to His will.  The Blessed Mother, St Elizabeth, St Joseph, all demonstrate their voluntary love of God such that they are willing players in His plan of salvation. 

During this season of Advent this playing out of the plan of salvation is made clear to us by the dual themes of The Church's liturgy - always the first coming and the second coming; the Incarnation and the Final Judgement.  As we prepare for the rememberance of the first coming, so too we prepare ourselves for the second.  The prophet Isaiah and St John Baptist figure predominantly in the liturgy as each is the precursor to the first and second comings of Christ.  Isaiah prophesises the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, the Emmanuel, God with us and St John Baptist heralds the birth and the ministry of Christ; as he leaped in the womb of his mother Elizabeth, Mary's cousin when she visited her after the Annunciation and later, when he is baptising by the banks of the River Jordan and baptises Christ of whom he says "Behold the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world" to his disciples.