VII — INFINITE WISDOM

Presence of God. — My God, infinite wisdom, enlighten my mind and teach me the secret of true wisdom.

Meditation

1 — God is infinite wisdom who knows Himself and all things perfectly. In God wisdom is not, as in us, distinct from being, but is God’s very being. God’s being is supreme wisdom, luminous and most splendid intellectual ray, eternally subsistent, which embraces and penetrates all the divine essence and, at the same time, sees in it, as in their cause, all things that exist and could exist. Divine wisdom - says Sacred Scripture - “reaches and penetrates everywhere because of its purity... It is a breath of the power of God and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty... It is a reflection of eternal light and a spotless mirror of the majesty of God and image of his goodness” (Wis. 7:24-26).

Divine wisdom is first of all perfect knowledge of God.

No creature, not even angels and the blessed in heaven, can know God so as to exhaust the infinite greatness of his being. God alone knows Himself perfectly; only divine wisdom can penetrate the infinite depth of his essence and mysteries. For us, so incapable of knowing God as He is, it is immense joy to contemplate the infinite wisdom that penetrates all divine mysteries; it is immense comfort to invoke it and entrust ourselves to it that it may be our light and our guide in the knowledge of God.

Divine wisdom is, then, perfect knowledge of all that exists. No error can be in it, which is eternal and immutable truth. No thing can be hidden or mysterious to it because it made all things and therefore knows them down to their innermost essence. And there is nothing new it must learn because from eternity it sees all in an eternal present, and nothing, however minimal, can escape its most splendid light: “even the hairs of your head are all counted,” Jesus said (Mt. 10, 30). God knows us far better than we know ourselves: all the most secret movements of our heart, even those that escape our control, are perfectly manifest to Him. Let us ask Him to make us know ourselves in his light, in his eternal truth.

2 — Divine wisdom knows all things in God, in relation to Him who is their first cause. It sees all things dependent on God and ordered by Him to his glory. Therefore it does not judge things according to their outward appearances, but solely according to the value, place, and meaning they have before God. The judgments of divine wisdom are therefore immensely distant from our short human judgments which stop at the pure materiality of things: “O depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God,” exclaims St. Paul, “how incomprehensible are his judgments and unsearchable his ways!” (Rom. 11:33). And for us they are all the more incomprehensible the more we are accustomed to judge things from the point of view opposite to that of divine wisdom.

To know things in relation to God, to esteem them according to the value they have in his sight, here is true wisdom, that wisdom you must seek to acquire in reflection of eternal wisdom. See how far you are from it when you judge creatures and events only from a human point of view, only based on the joy or displeasure they bring you. This wisdom, which is that of the world, “is foolishness with God” (1 Cor. 3:19), precisely because it judges things in relation to man and not in relation to God; it judges them according to appearance and not according to reality. Only by accustoming yourself to strip off your too subjective and interested human gaze will you be able to pass beyond the appearance of things to discover, in the light of faith, the meaning and value they have before God. Then you will clearly see that all that the world holds in great regard - such as greatness of intellect, success of works, esteem of creatures, etc. - is nothing according to divine wisdom, in whose sight the least degree of grace, the least act of supernatural charity is immeasurably superior. See, then, how you are mistaken when you worry more about the good outcome of your affairs than about your progress in virtue; see how you are mistaken when you judge your neighbor according to natural qualities, according to natural sympathy or antipathy he inspires in you, without taking account of his supernatural value. Let humble consideration of your lack of wisdom make you feel more than ever the need to invoke divine wisdom: “O Wisdom, who came forth from the mouth of the Most High, come to teach us the way of prudence” (Roman Breviary).

Colloquy

“O divine Wisdom! In You there is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, clear, agile, spotless, infallible, gentle, lover of good, keen, unconstrained, beneficent, friend of men, kindly, steadfast, secure, tranquil, that can do all things, oversees all things, and penetrates all spirits intelligent, pure, most subtle. Indeed, You are more mobile than every motion and reach and penetrate everywhere because of your purity. For You are a breath of the power of God and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled can fall into You. You are a reflection of eternal light and a spotless mirror of the majesty of God and image of his goodness.

“Though one, You can do all things, remaining immutable in Yourself and renewing all things, and diffusing Yourself into holy souls, You make them friends of God. You are more beautiful than the sun and superior to light in appearance, for to this night succeeds, but You are never overcome by wickedness. You extend mightily from one end of the world to the other and govern all things with goodness.

“God of my fathers and Lord of mercy, with You is your wisdom that knows your works and was present when You made the world and knows what is pleasing in your eyes and what is right according to your commandments. Send her down from your holy heaven and from the throne of your glory, so that she may be with me and labor with me and I may know what is acceptable to You. For she knows and understands all things and will guide me prudently in my actions and guard me by her power. O Lord, timid are the reasonings of mortals and uncertain our designs. We scarcely conjecture the things of earth and with effort find those before us and in our hands; who will search out the things in heaven? Who will know your will, O Lord, unless You grant him wisdom and send your Holy Spirit from above?” (cf. Wis. 7:22-30; 9:1-17).