O Sapientia!

Today, December 17, we begin the O Antiphons that lead us for the next seven days to the brink of the nativity.  Seven days contemplating different aspects of the Redeemer soon to be celebrated.  Seven different titles, beginning with perhaps the most ancient of all:  Wisdom, Sophia, Sapientia.

The traditional Advent hymn, O Come O Come Emmanuel, which embodies the antiphons, begins:

                        O Come Thou Wisdom from on high,

                        Who ord’rest all things mightily,

                        To us the path of knowledge show,

                        And teach us in her ways to go…

The emphasis here is mine – but when was the last time you encountered a female pronoun in church?  How startled I was to realize that this ubiquitous hymn keeps the tradition of Wisdom being female:  a true sign of hope in this Advent season!

This verse serves as a reminder that we have in our Hebrew and Christian scripture a feminine symbol which, for many reasons too complex for discussion in this short piece, has been overlooked and repressed. (See the first chapter of Wisdom’s Feast, Sophia in Study and Celebration for a summary of scholarship and dialogue about Sophia.) Hebrew scripture shows us a symbol of power and mystery, present at the creation, leading the Israelites out of Egypt, “The breath of God’s power and a stream of pure glory of the Almighty” (Wisdom 7:25), deploying her strength and ordering all things for the good.  In the New Testament, Sophia is identified with Jesus, the Logos – a Christ who is the power and the Wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24). Paul asserts, “Rather we speak God’s Wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory” (1 Cor 2:7).

 But, obviously, we have not emerged in the 21^st century with an affirmation of Jesus as Sophia, nor with frequent or common uses of Wisdom imagery in prayer or liturgy. Patriarchy, controversy, ambiguity, and contemporary context have all played a role in suppressing not only the figure of Wisdom herself, but also any discussion of this “refulgence of eternal light…who can do all things and renews everything” (Wis 7:26).  As the authors of Wisdom’s Feast say, “This presence of Sophia in the Christian scriptures as well as in the Hebrew tradition despite, or perhaps even because of, its unfinished nature, provides contemporary spirituality with a figure of great possibility” (p. 46).

A small pronoun, the potential for more discussion, the powerful depictions in Proverbs and the Book of Wisdom are all antiphons for me this Advent. As WOC looks toward a new year of active advocacy for gender justice and equality in the Church, I remember that:

                        Wisdom calls aloud in the streets,

                                    She raises her voice in the public squares;

                        She cries out at the street corners,

                                    She delivers her message at the city gates…

(Proverbs 1:20-21)

May we meet at the gates!