2nd Sunday after Christmas
SIRACH 24:1-4, 12-16
Wisdom sings her own praises,
she glories in the midst of her people.
She opens her mouth in the assembly of the Most High
and glories in the presence of his Powers….
Then the Creator of the universe commanded me,
the Creator established my dwelling:
“Dwell in Jacob,
let Israel be your inheritance.”
From the beginning, before the ages,
he created me, and I shall never cease….
The Book of Sirach, “Ecclesiasticus,” is the work of Jesus son of Sirach.
It is probably a “family of sages.” The last of the line, Jesus, puts into writing in Greek the wisdom received from previous generations. It was such a widely read book in the early church that it received the name “Ecclesiasticus.” It was most likely written between 190 and 130 BC, in Egypt.
This is a typical “Wisdom Book,” a compilation of school writings, thoughts that reveal the wisdom accumulated through reflection and experience. The Wisdom of God is presented as if it were a person. We humans share that wisdom when we respect God and fulfill the law.
Our text provides a summary – omitting several verses – and presents divine Wisdom as an admirable character of God’s heavenly court, who later resides in Israel, in the Dwelling, in Jerusalem, and takes root in the People.
EPHESIANS 1:3-6, 15-18
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.
For in him he chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.
He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
This letter (or treatise), of enormous thematic richness, begins with this exalted paragraph, a kind of hymn of blessing, in which many of the great theological themes characteristic of Paul are intertwined.
Christians are presented as chosen for holiness, to be children, to know God, heirs of the riches of the knowledge of God.
The text of today is undoubtedly attracted here by the phrase: “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.” It thus connects with the theme of Wisdom presented in the text of Sirach.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.