O Wisdom

O Wisdom, uttered by the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end of earth to the other with great power, yet ordering all things with gentleness, come!  Teach us the way of prudence!

You, Wisdom, God’s favorite child, played at his feet as the world and everything in it was made.  You delighted in every clod of earth, in every flower and fruit, in every fish and bird, and most of all in the human race.

You, Hokma, lover of humanity, have walked the long road of our history beside us, leading your chosen people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea and through the desert with its trials, into the land of promise – promised, promised, but never fully possessed.

You, Hagia Sophia, sought us out in the hills and the gateways and cried aloud at the crossroads so that we might hear and be fed on the bread and wine of your word.

You, Lady, we have loved as bride and mother, because you opened to us the beauty of creation and the ever greater beauty of its Creator.  Because it is your joy to reveal him to us, you carried us in your arms to the threshold of the knowledge of God.

You, Jesus, incarnate Word, have crossed the last threshold by clothing your longing in flesh.

You, Jesus, child of Mary, found a new way to delight in all that you had made.  You touched, tasted, smelled, listened, looked and loved with the joy of a human heart.

You, Jesus, bread of life, have walked with us the long road of our mortality – birth, growth, diminishment and death.  You tasted the bread of our tears and the cup of our bitterness, but gave us in return your bread of life and cup of salvation.

You, Jesus, foolishness of God, have stretched out your arms from one end of earth to the other with power made perfect in weakness, and given away your life.  Now at last you have shown us the way of prudence, the wisdom of humility, and laid bare the face of God.

Have mercy on us, and come.