Wisdom Calls

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

Does not Wisdom call, and Understanding raise her voice?

On the top of the heights along the road, at the crossroads she takes her stand;

By the gates at the approaches of the city, in the entryways she cries aloud:

To you, O people, I call; my appeal is to the people!

You simple ones, gain resource, you fools, gain sense.

Give heed! for noble things I speak; honesty opens my lips.

Yes, the truth my mouth recounts, but the wickedness my lips abhor.

Sincere are all the words of my mouth, no one of them is wily or crooked;

All of them are plain to the person of intelligence, and right to those who attain knowledge.

Receive my instruction in preference to silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.

For Wisdom is better than corals, and no choice possessions can compare with her.

I, Wisdom, dwell with experience, and judicious knowledge I attain.

To be in awe of God is to hate evil;

Pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate.

Mine are counsel and advice; Mine is strength; I am understanding.

By me rulers reign, and lawgivers establish justice;

By me leaders govern, and great ones; all the rulers of earth.

Those who love me I also love, and those who seek me find me.

With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.

My fruit is better than gold, yes, than pure gold, and my revenue than choice silver.

On the way of duty I walk, along the paths of justice,

Granting prosperity to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

God begot me, the first-born of the ways, the forerunner of the prodigies of long ago;

From of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth.

When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water;

Before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth;

While as yet the earth and the fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world.

When God established the heavens I was there, when God marked out the vault over the face of the deep;

When God made firm the skies above, when God fixed fast the foundations of the earth;

When God set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress;

Then was I beside God as an artisan, and I was God’s delight day by day,

Playing before God all the while, playing on the surface of the earth; and I found delight in the people.

So now, O children, listen to me; instruction and wisdom do not reject!

Happy the one who obeys me, and happy those who keep my ways,

Happy the person watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts;

For the one who finds me finds life, and wins favor from God;

But the one who misses me comes to harm; all who hate me love death.
Proverbs 8



O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with Your strong yet tender care.
Come and show Your people the way to salvation.

O Wisdom, which came out of the mouth of the most High,
and reaches from one end to another, mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.

All photographs by Baya Clare, CSJ unless otherwise noted.