Reading for Nov 10-Memorial: St. Leo the Great, Pope & Doctor of the Church

From: Wisdom 7:22b-8:1

Wisdom, a Reflection of Eternal Light

[22b] For in her there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, [23] beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent and pure and most subtle. [24] For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. [25] For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. [26] For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. [27] Though she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets;

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Commentary:

7:22—8:1. Somehow, mysteriously, Wisdom is the same thing as the Spirit of God who gives life to and enlightens all other beings and who transcends them. In vv. 22-24 there are so many terms from the language of Greek philosophy (especially Plato and the Stoics) that the author must mean them to be recognized as such. However, even though he borrows this terminology, he clearly maintains his independence; nothing he says undermines his belief in there being only one God. He does attribute to divine Wisdom properties that Greek philosophy conferred on the “soul of the cosmos”, the nous and the logos, but he clearly does not mean to associate himself with that sort of thinking; he is simply using these terms to emphasize the excellence of divine Wisdom.

The sacred writers of the New Testament (St John and St Paul, particularly) have things to say somewhat along the lines of these verses when dealing with the mysteries of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 1:5, 9; 15:26; Col 1:5—6; Heb 1:3; etc.). Sacred texts like these were among the first to be used when, later on, Christian theology about the incarnate Word and the Holy Spirit began to take shape: we can see this from the writings of the Fathers. For example, v. 26 is used in a work attributed to St Augustine dealing with the unity of Father and Son: “A 'reflection', because the pure light of the Father is in the Son; 'a clear mirror', for the Father can be seen in the Son” ("Solutiones diversarum quaestionum", 18).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.