10 Jun Monday

Trinity Sunday coming this next weekend make me think — doctrine. The first reading fro Proverbs connects the Spirit with a figure named Wisdom. oAlthough the passage does not say so specifically in the English translation, the grammatical gender of the Hebrew word, הוכמה, is feminine for wisdom. Here in this passage, she speaks to us. She is ‘the beginning of His ways.” (vs. 12) She describes herself as “poured forth” and “brought forth”, two unusual expressions for beginnings. This implies a “from” origination and pre-existence of and from God. Her origination is “before all else”.

In the passage, Wisdom’s presence is essential to the creation of all that is, because Wisdom is orderly, which in turn is a comforting thing to know about the created world — it is orderly! And that it coheres, meaning all of one piece. There are obvious environment themes here about the shattering of this environmental cohesion which we humans have created in our disorderliness.

Note the three qualities she ascribes to herself: God’s craftsman, taking delight, and playing (repeated twice). These are themes buried in the encyclical “Laudato ‘Si.” We all have experiences of craftsmanship, delight, and playfulness. It is hard for us Americans to get that Wisdom is playful! Hence the abundance of all the critters which delight God by their very being.