Tuesday, December 17, 2024

O Holy Wisdom

 Over the next week I will be posting each of the seven "O Antiphons" that begin and end the Magnificat.  Each post will include the antiphon in both Latin and English, a meditation, a prayer,  a music clip from YouTube and a photos.  

DECEMBER 17, 2024

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

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

Meditation: One of the sad realities today is that wisdom is ignored or dismissed in favor of quickness, the snarky comment, cynicism, or an easy laugh. The great gift the aged have given to all societies throughout history is wisdom, a virtue gained only through experiences of victory and defeat, mistakes and right decisions, joy and sorrow, and life well-lived. Even those who are dying can instruct us if we allow them. The desire to kill the inconveniently sick or the demented elderly in the name of a false mercy is one of the great sins of our world. It is the antithesis of wisdom, prudence, and understanding.  

Prayer:  
Suscipe (St. Ignatius of Loyola)

Take Lord, and receive 
all my liberty, my memory,
my understanding, 
my entire will, 
all I have and call my own. 
You have given all to me,
to You, Lord, I return it. 
Everything is yours; do with it what you will. 
Give me only Your love and Your grace,
That is enough for me.

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

One of Bach’s great chorales played on piano in her own arrangement by the great British pianist and harpsichordist Dame Myra Hess.  The photo of the Christmas Market was taken in Ljubljana on a misty and miserably cold night before Christmas. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGsPdEm3FfI

 

Overlooking the Christmas Market in Ljubljana, Slovenia

 Fr. Jack, SJ, MD

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