O Sapientia

December 17

The O Antiphons are petitions composed in the same formulaic way as many other liturgical prayers. Like the prayers of the Mass, it’s often not the request that grabs our attention but the poetic description and exultation of God. It’s as if we are “buttering up” God so he will listen to our prayer and give us what we need. “Oh God, you who are such-and-such, and did this-and-that, do it again for us!” We risk treating God as our high patron rather than our Heavenly Father, and ourselves as freeloaders rather than willing coworkers.

In the other O Antiphons we ask for redemption, deliverance, salvation, etc. Today, addressing the Wisdom of God we ask, like Solomon, not for a long life, nor riches, nor for the life of our enemies, but for prudence, a virtue, a habitual practice. If it’s not a handout, how can we cooperate with the free gift of God’s grace tto merit prudence? Solomon tells us. “Desire therefore my words; long for them and you will be instructed. Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily found by those who seek her. For setting your heart on her is the perfection of prudence” (Wisdom 6). In other words, pay attention to that striking first part of the antiphon. Be governed from end to end by the Wisdom coming from God’s mouth. That’s how we work out our petition. For God is the one who works in us both to desire and to work (Philippians 2).

O Wisdom, who is brought forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end, and arranging all things effectively and agreeably: come to teach us the road of prudence.