Advent Blogging: "O Wisdom"
(You can read previous mediations here and here.)
Traditional Version:
O Wisdom, which camest out of the mouth of the Most High,
And reachest from one end to another,
Mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
(Taken from The Anglican Breviary, C26).
Contemporary Version:
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
And reaching mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
Ordering all things well,
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
(Taken from A Manual of Anglo-Catholic Devotion, 210).
My Thoughts:
I HAD A conversation with a friend last night concerning The Nicomachean Ethics. Freshly reminded of it, I think it'd be a good place to start. For those of you who haven't read it, Aristotle spends the most time of the book expounding upon "The Golden Mean." I hope my explanation helps:
FOR ARISTOTLE, EVERY action has to meet this criteria to be a virtuous action:
1) the right amount
2) at the right time.
2) to the right person.
3) with the right motives.
4) for the right ends.
Let's use the example of giving money to a homeless person. I must give the right amount (what can one buy with a quarter?), at the right time, to the right homeless person (who will not spend it on booze), with the right motives (do I announce it with trumpets?) and with the right ends (do I do this to feel good about myself or for genuine care?). If it is lacking in any of these areas, it is no longer a virtuous action. Virtuous actions (those that fit this criteria) will not be in extremes, for one will know how much to give and when to give it, etc. Thus, virtuous actions fall within "The Golden Mean," apart from the vulgarities of too much or too little in any of these categories.
ARISTOTLE, THEN GOES onto argue that practical knowledge teaches one how to act virtuously in a variety of settings. This practical knowledge is also known as prudence. The wisdom that we are praying for with this O Antiphon will come and teach us the "way of prudence." This is the same wisdom that teaches how to order the things in our life "sweetly and mightily."
OF COURSE, ARISTOTLE can only get us so far, as he cannot give us the Christ child. What is the wisdom of the Christ child that teaches us the way of prudence? Because he hasn't the Christ child, Aristotle's definition of "the virtuous life" is vastly different from that of Christians. The Apostle Paul writes about the wisdom of God:
813"But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:7-8 NRSV)."
THIS "SECRET AND hidden" wisdom is the wisdom of the creche and of the womb of a frightened and holy Virgin. This wisdom, indeed, stretches from one end of the earth to another, yet was contained in the womb of the Virgin. Secret and hidden from the world, the incarnation is the wisdom of God. For the wisdom that the Antiphon speaks of comes from the mouth of God. It is Christ who has come out of the mouth of God, as St. John wrote:
"And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth (John 1:14 NRSV)."
Christ who is the Word of God is also the Wisdom of God. And it is His advent into our lives that teaches us how to act prudently by ordering our lives "sweetly and mightily." Thus, our actions begin to be virtuous (we do the right thing at the right time with the right amount, etc). It is Christ who orders our lives.
Come, O Wisdom of God, foolishness to the world, and order our lives in the manner you see fit. Teach us to give up our expectations and desires, except where you have birthed them. Teach us to change our actions, except for those that you bless. Let our lives be well ordered epistles unto you and the rest of the world.
Traditional Version:
O Wisdom, which camest out of the mouth of the Most High,
And reachest from one end to another,
Mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
(Taken from The Anglican Breviary, C26).
Contemporary Version:
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
And reaching mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
Ordering all things well,
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
(Taken from A Manual of Anglo-Catholic Devotion, 210).
My Thoughts:
I HAD A conversation with a friend last night concerning The Nicomachean Ethics. Freshly reminded of it, I think it'd be a good place to start. For those of you who haven't read it, Aristotle spends the most time of the book expounding upon "The Golden Mean." I hope my explanation helps:
FOR ARISTOTLE, EVERY action has to meet this criteria to be a virtuous action:
1) the right amount
2) at the right time.
2) to the right person.
3) with the right motives.
4) for the right ends.
Let's use the example of giving money to a homeless person. I must give the right amount (what can one buy with a quarter?), at the right time, to the right homeless person (who will not spend it on booze), with the right motives (do I announce it with trumpets?) and with the right ends (do I do this to feel good about myself or for genuine care?). If it is lacking in any of these areas, it is no longer a virtuous action. Virtuous actions (those that fit this criteria) will not be in extremes, for one will know how much to give and when to give it, etc. Thus, virtuous actions fall within "The Golden Mean," apart from the vulgarities of too much or too little in any of these categories.
ARISTOTLE, THEN GOES onto argue that practical knowledge teaches one how to act virtuously in a variety of settings. This practical knowledge is also known as prudence. The wisdom that we are praying for with this O Antiphon will come and teach us the "way of prudence." This is the same wisdom that teaches how to order the things in our life "sweetly and mightily."
OF COURSE, ARISTOTLE can only get us so far, as he cannot give us the Christ child. What is the wisdom of the Christ child that teaches us the way of prudence? Because he hasn't the Christ child, Aristotle's definition of "the virtuous life" is vastly different from that of Christians. The Apostle Paul writes about the wisdom of God:
813"But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:7-8 NRSV)."
THIS "SECRET AND hidden" wisdom is the wisdom of the creche and of the womb of a frightened and holy Virgin. This wisdom, indeed, stretches from one end of the earth to another, yet was contained in the womb of the Virgin. Secret and hidden from the world, the incarnation is the wisdom of God. For the wisdom that the Antiphon speaks of comes from the mouth of God. It is Christ who has come out of the mouth of God, as St. John wrote:
"And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth (John 1:14 NRSV)."
Christ who is the Word of God is also the Wisdom of God. And it is His advent into our lives that teaches us how to act prudently by ordering our lives "sweetly and mightily." Thus, our actions begin to be virtuous (we do the right thing at the right time with the right amount, etc). It is Christ who orders our lives.
Come, O Wisdom of God, foolishness to the world, and order our lives in the manner you see fit. Teach us to give up our expectations and desires, except where you have birthed them. Teach us to change our actions, except for those that you bless. Let our lives be well ordered epistles unto you and the rest of the world.