 Welcome everybody to this workshop which is entitled I saw to take her as my bride quotation from wisdom 8 to I have to give a little warning to you even if it's too late for you now to escape we Germans are famous for reading out our conferences in German if you attend a lecture in the University it's literally called for liaison which means the professor reads his book to you in a very monotonous voice I don't complain about my capacity to speak English I'm very glad I know it though as well as I do but I still don't feel comfortable to speak from the fullness of my heart so bear with me if I have to remain a very very German and read out my presentation if I go too fast or too monotonous you can make science or just start leaving then I'll get there okay let us start with a prayer in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen Lord with you is wisdom who knows your works and was present when you made the world who understands what is pleasing in your eyes and what is comfortable with your commands send her forth from your holy heavens and from your glorious throne dispatcher that she may be with me and work with me that I may know what is pleasing to you for she knows and understands all things and will guide me prudently in my affairs and safeguard me by her glory thus my deeds will be acceptable and I will judge your people justly and be worthy of my Father's throne Mary seat of wisdom intercede for us in this hour in which we contemplate about the mystery of wisdom in the scriptures and in our own life hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus holy Mary mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen all glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit it wasn't the beginning is now and shall be word without end amen a second remark you have these handouts personally I find it I can't listen to a speaker and read a handout at the same time however as presenters I made this for those of you who feel I'm quoting too many passages and you don't follow writing down so for that sake you have the handouts so after the conference if you want you can go back and you have all the scriptures on these handouts but you don't need to follow on the handout while I am presenting but you can of course I saw to take her as my bride on the spousal role of wisdom in the life of the sage the sage is each and every one of you who are baptized wisdom literature views the quest for wisdom like the quest for a beloved woman wisdom is to be found like one found finds a good wife the youth is to call her his sister which is a common term of endearment in the ancient Near East Syracke exhorts us to peer through her windows and listen at her doors like a lover does outside the door of his beloved and Solomon describes wisdom as his own bride whom he loved above all else and whom he decided to take as a consort the injunctions to love and search for wisdom are so strong that one is reminded of the first commandment to love the Lord with all one's heart and soul and strength due to Ronyme 65 only if wisdom is itself divine can such surrender of self to her pursuit seem acceptable and yet wisdom or her Greek counterpart called Sophia appears as a female personification a mediating figure between God and humans and not really like the Creator God himself how then is it possible that the Bible summons us to love and seek her with such submission the question imposes itself who is she after all and how am I a Christian of the 21st century to love and see her as my bride for a Catholic this so-called lady wisdom looks unsettlingly similar to our lady and her role in the mystery of salvation in fact wisdom texts like Proverbs 8 we just had it recently in the Feast of the Trinity Syracke 24 and Wisdoms chapter 7 to 9 have been used in the liturgy for Marian Feast days down through the centuries up to the second Vatican Council the texts suit her in so many ways Mary she's the seat of wisdom the Mediatrics of all grace the mother of good counsel a living temple God's Paradise the source and mother of all life etc etc but can such a Catholic devotion stand the test of the enlightened mind and even that of orthodoxy after all Mary is neither pre-existent nor God's emanation neither divine nor by herself a reflection of God's glory all these attributes hold true of Christ but not of his mother Mary is like us God's creature even though she is immaculate and the highest of all creatures thus why thus while we would hesitate to attribute to Mary a sentence like she is a breath of the power of God and a pure emanation of his glory we would immediately agree to apply the second part of this sentence to her nothing defiled gains entrance into her how can these seeming contradictions on the one hand you think of her and the church is using her on in the other hand all this seems to apply a goddess or at least the God how can these contradictions be resolved are we or are we not to see Mary in these texts and therefore love and see her as like a bride in what follows I will first have a look at all the relevant biblical texts with you before we proceed with the question of who this wisdom figure is and where she comes from and whom she points to second the texts in scriptures and those are the texts you find on your handout in the book of proverbs wisdom is to be found like one finds a good wife so compare the text on the handout for example proverbs 3 verse 13 happy the man who finds wisdom and the man who gets understanding or 8 17 I wisdom says I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me now compare that to chapter 31 verse 10 a good wife who can find she's far more precious than jewels or here the parallelism is even more clearer in the second line proverbs 8 35 for he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord now look at the parallel with the wife in 1822 on the right side he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord so finding wisdom obtains favor from the Lord and finding a good wife obtains favor from the Lord it's really superpose the two realities wisdom is so then to be acquired like one acquires a wife in the Bible you acquire a wife it's a technical term the Bible uses particularly in the book of Ruth now listen what the book of Proverbs says about how to get wisdom in Proverbs 4 verses 5 to 8 acquire wisdom this is number two on the handout acquire wisdom acquire insight do not forsake her and she will keep you love her and she will guard you the beginning of wisdom is this acquire wisdom and whatever you get is insight price her highly and she will exalt you she will honor you if you embrace her with regard to this acquisition of wisdom the context makes it very clear that we're not talking about purchasing her like buying her there is no talk of purchase the price of purchase is not mentioned instead we read about faithfulness and love in verse 6 caressing and embracing and while the Hebrew term that's used here it's the famous Hebrew term ahav may describe both an erotic love between a man and a woman and a spiritual love for God the Greek translation makes it very clear that an erotic connotation is intended because the the subtuagent translates era oh and that's the verb from which we have the term eros in English yeah so you are to love wisdom with an erotic love the book of Proverbs tells us the sage more over advises the youth in Proverbs 7 4 call wisdom your sister if you have an annotated Bible for example the NAB or any other annotated Bible it will probably tell you in the footnotes that sister and brother were common terms of endearment between lovers in the ancient knee eastern love literature and we find an excellent example of that in the song of songs for example in song 4 9 to 10 there the lover says to her to his bride you have ravished my heart my sister my bride you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes with one jewel of your necklace how sweet is your love my sister my bride how much better is your love than wine and the fragrance of your oils than spice we come to the book of Syrac Syrac in 1422 to 27 summons us to purse you wisdom like a hunter yet the way this hunt is described describes closely or resembles closely the behavior again of the lover in the song of songs who stands behind the wall of the beloved's house gazing at the window Syrac says in 1422 purse you wisdom like a hunter and lie in wait on her path he who peers through her windows will also listen at her doors he who incomes near her house will also fasten his tent back to her walls now compares song 2 9 my beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag behold there he stands behind our wall gazing in at the windows looking through the lattice syrac 15 1 to 6 furthermore compares wisdom to a mother and a bride who nourishes again a very utterly female figure syrac 15 he who holds the law will obtain wisdom she will come to meet him like a mother and like a wife of his youth she will welcome him she will feed him with the bread of understanding and give him the water of wisdom to drink it is however above all the book of the wisdom of salomon which makes use of the sexual imagery as its main literary vehicle for communicating the need of a personal and intimate relationship with wisdom thus the book of the wisdom of salomon describes wisdom just as we saw in the previous books as a woman who is to be loved sought after and found like one finds a beloved woman take for example wisdom 6 12 that is number six on your handouts wisdom is radiant and unfading she is easily discerned by those who love her and is found by those who seek her she hastens to makes herself known to those who desire her he who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty for he will find her sitting at his gates to fix one's thought on her is perfect understanding and he who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care because she goes about seeking those worthy of her and she graciously appears to them in their path and meets them in every thought unlike a shy girl she does not make a lot of fuss nor needs a lot of pressing rather she hastens to make herself known to those who desire her she will even be found waiting at the gate of him who is willing to rise early to find her she goes about seeking those worthy of her and she graciously appears to them in their path and meets them in every thought while these metaphors are familiar from the book of proverbs and pensara the book of wisdom goes even further in its development of the spousal metaphor in fact king Solomon the exemplary sage of the book of wisdom describes her as his bride nymphe in greek you probably know that word his bride whom he loved above all else wisdom 7 10 and whom he decided to take as his consort wisdom 7 8 i preferred her to sceptres and thrones and i i accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her neither did i liken to her any priceless gem because all gold is but a little sand in our sight and silver will be accounted as clay before her i loved agape so here you have the greek agape yeah you know that from your new testament conferences i i loved her with agape more than health and beauty and i chose to have her rather than light because her radiance never seizes she's more than the light all good things came to me along with her and in her hands uncounted wealth you're reminded of matthew 6 33 seek first the kingdom of god and everything else will be given unto thee all good things come along with her and in her hands uncounted wealth i rejoicing them all because wisdom leads them but i did not know that she was their mother i learned without guile and i am part without grudging i do not hide her wealth for it is an unfailing treasure for men those who get it obtain friendship with god commended for the gifts that come from her instruction a little sneak preview to open your ears to the marion dimension if you hear a phrase like those who get it obtain friendship with god reminds you of that timeless sentence a child of mary will never be lost no you all know this conviction if you have a child a nephew whatever someone you're praying for who's you've you can't see finding conversion we we have this deep trust we consecrate that person to mary and the person won't be lost those who get obtained friendship with god uh those who get um wisdom obtained friendship with god it also reminds of that phrase of grigno de montfort who says wherever the holy spirit finds a soul dwelling finds mary dwelling in a soul he rushes on that soul but here i'm jumping ahead we're still just obtain observing our texts in a remarkable hymn which you have uh on your handouts uh in verse in handout eight but i'm not going to read it entirely now um it will return to this later solemn and sings her praises listing all of wisdom's virtues and then he concludes i loved now this time he loves her if filet so that's filet in this friendship love i loved her and sought her from my youth and i desire to take her as my bride nymphe and i became enamored erastes of her beauty so again he uses that verb from which we have eros yeah he he loved her with an erotic love she glorifies her noble birth by living with god the what the greek is saying here she is she lives with god like like our unmarried people nowadays cohabitate yeah she she's the one uh who is god's life partner and the lord of all loves her agape se god loves her with all his agape for she is an initiate mystus the greek says and that's where we get the word mystic mysticism from yeah she is a mystic see she's initiated into into all of god's knowledge and an associate in god's works therefore now solemn says i determined to take her to live with me so she cohabitates with god and now solemn says therefore i want her to cohabitate with me same verb word in greek knowing that she would give me good counsel and encouragement and cares and grief because of her i shall have immortality and leave an everlasting remembrance to those who come after me when i enter my house i will find rest with her remember rest is the good we're looking for in the old testament the country of my rest in her we find rest what does jesus say come to me all who are burdened and you will find rest it's the good of salvation for companionship with her has no bitterness and life with her now again he uses that word symbiosis the cohabitation with her has no pain but gladness and joy when i considered these things inwardly and thought upon them in my mind that kinship with wisdom that in kinship with wisdom there is immortality and in friendship with her pure delight and in the labors of her hands and failing wealth and in the experience of her company understanding and renown and sharing her words then i went about seeking that i may take her into my own make a strong mental note on this phrase because we will re-encounter it in the new testament then i went seeking that i may take her into my own that's an old testament or greek way of saying i decided to take her as my spouse according to this description salomon entered into an intimate spousal relationship with wisdom i loved her and sought her from he loved her and sought her from his youth and desired to take her for his bride and became enamored of her beauty and finally he takes her as his spouse into his own what is most astounding however apart from this explicitly spousal and almost erotic language in application to divine wisdom is the fact that salomon describes wisdom first of all as being god's life partner she glorifies her noble birth by living with god and the lord of all loves her he says in verse three it is god's life partner whom salomon determines to take as his own companions in the words i determined to take her to live with me knowing that she would give me good council and encouragement and care and grief thus while or rather because she is god's companion salomon takes her for his own companion it is precisely wisdom's extraordinary spouse like relationship to the creator of all as the book says that renders her capable of mediating all the divine attributes like understanding prophecy immortality etc etc who then is this wisdom who is god's consort and at the same time so readily gives herself to man as a mother and bride as a german scholar named ruben simon a man has phrased it salomon seems to be describing a love triangle god whose spouse is wisdom but who also is the spouse of salomon before we look at the christian interpretation of these passages i want to draw your attention to the historical background that scholars made out behind the description of wisdom as it will shed an interesting light on the real love triangle which the holy spirit might have intended to prefigure here when he inspired the writing of the book of wisdom isis Sophia isis is an egyptian goddess in relation to wisdom's persona as a lover and bride and wife a recasting of the ancient sacred marriage myth appears to be at work don't panic i'll explain and i'll return to orthodoxy the peoples of the ancient near east surrounding israel all shared in a more or less common sacred so-called sacred marriage tradition in which a female goddess consort of the supreme god was traditionally a mediating figure between her spouse the god the supreme god and the king with whom she similarly enjoyed a spousal relationship wisdom was understood to be a divine prerogative yeah it was clear wisdom belongs to the gods needed however by the kings to fulfill the god given office to act as gods lieutenant on lieutenants on earth and govern the people with justice and righteousness where for salomon's first act is to pray for wisdom in order to be able to govern god's people hence the pagan believe that the kings enjoyed a privileged relationship with the goddess who thanks to her intimate relationship with god with the supreme god would mediate the wisdom necessary for governance to the king for that reason most of the culture surrounding israel had developed a pronounced goddess worship a cult of this kind was particularly popular in alexandra and the second century bc the city where the book of wisdom was written with all likelihood here the ancient egyptian goddess isis whom you might have already heard about had been revitalized the egyptian royal theology ascribed to isis a principal role in securing kingship for the monarch and providing him with knowledge and ability to reign this role of hers had been popularized in the second century when the book of wisdom was written and she was now venerated as the giver of wisdom and the founder of scientific knowledge for mankind now modern scholarship is demonstrated because nowadays we're lucky thanks to archaeology that we found lots of texts about this veneration of isis and because we have these texts now suddenly we discovered wow what we read in the book of wisdom the egyptians were saying about their goddess isis and so it has become quite clear that the author of the book of wisdom has adopted a genius rhetoric in order to convince his contemporary jews who are living with him in alexandra surrounded by all these pagans and you can imagine these pagan cults to isis were very seductive yeah and in order to prevent them from going after isis he is teaching them through this book who the true wisdom is who the true source of knowledge is and by precisely adopting that terminology that was written written in the praises of isis so what we found in these texts that exist is that the so called priest of isis had written lists in the praises of isis and we find the exact same list in the book of wisdom but now praising god's wisdom for example wisdom 722 it's handout number eight this is wisdom 722 in her there is a spirit that is intelligent holy unique manifold subtle mobile clear unpolluted distinct invulnerable loving the good keen irresistible beneficent humane steadfast chore free from anxiety all powerful overseeing all and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent and pure and most subtle in order to immunize his jewish fellow citizens against the seductions of this isis cult the author of the book of wisdom very cleverly used the exact same terminology of these hints in honor of isis and then applied them to description of god's transcendent wisdom not union with isis but with israel's wisdom will prick procure you with understanding life and immortality he's saying so fia not isis the book of wisdom declares powerfully is a teacher and revealer of god's will and initiator into encyclopedic knowledge the student of so fia is promised immortality and nearness to god and just as isis was believed to be the egyptian king's wife and advisor of divine rank so wisdom is here described as solomon's advisor and a companion on the throne who rules overall indeed wisdom is praised as all seeing omniscient even omnipotent her spirit is holy and unique all these attributes at the pagan cult it attributed to isis the message is clear true wisdom and immortality are to be found only with god's wisdom who contrary to the pagan belief is neither a goddess nor any other kind of minor divinity thus while so fia wisdom is no longer an independent god is in her own right but an expression of the lord's wisdom this so in recast goddess nevertheless remains the mediator between god and man through her simultaneous spousal relationship with god and the sage now why am i relating all this ancient eastern mythology mythological stuff to you for one thing it is helpful and necessary to know that revelation did not happen in vacuo in an empty space yeah god when revealing his mysteries adopts the language of the people he's revealing himself to language in this sense does not only refer to a hebrew and aramaic or greek rather the language of revelation comprises the metaphors and the religious symbols known to the people whom revelation is addressed to everyone knew the pagan belief in goddesses who were allegedly mediators of wisdom now was this merely a heresy or can we categorize them as somehow disfigured semina verbi seeds of truth that are dispersed amongst the cultures of this world you might know this famous phrase of seers louis who speaks of the true dreams of the pagans yeah these pagans dream of this female figure that is somehow interceding for us with god and and mediating god who's so overwhelmingly powerful to us that here we have a true dream of the of the pagans who will become a reality in a created creature whom we will see later but think for example in almost our own days only 500 years ago of our lady's apparition to Juan Diego in Guadalupe it made so much sense to the Indians precisely because her coming had be prepared even by the at stake prophets and because in her appearance in her image she applied all these pagan symbolisms to herself in a similar way the Jews at the time of the book of wisdom were graced with a deeper understanding of wisdom and her spousal role in the life of the sage precisely on the background of these pagan myth if the pagans were able to believe all these things about ices how much more would it do come to understand the true nature of wisdom more importantly however he would emulate the pagans fervent devotion and apply it to the true god however what is actually being revealed by using the pagan archetype the sage's love for wisdom is first of all legitimized and sorry the sage's love for wisdom not pagan is first of all legitimized and incandled by a similar love of god for her wisdom who is described as being at once gods and Solomon's life partner co-hobitator symbiosis in Greek thus becomes the relational link between god and the student of wisdom lady wisdom's love relationship with god and at the same time with the sage are closely related yet they remain at different levels contrary to a human love triangle they don't compete but unite that which otherwise is incompatible the human soul and god lady wisdom in her role wisdom in her role as a double spouse functions as a mediator of all things divine to man now again the urging question who is she in the light of the fullness of revelation for anyone acquainted with the catholic tradition she does look like our lady she's the spouse of god and the mother of humanity the mediatrics of all grace the privileged channel through whom god distributes his graces but lest we run ahead let us consider what tradition has to say first in the bible according to the biblical tradition recorded in the book of syrac and barok she is the book of the covenant of the most high god the law which god commanded syrac 24 verse 23 or according to barok 41 she is the book of the precepts of god the law that endures forever now here we have an inner biblical interpretation of who wisdom is and in the late time they figure it's god's law now we know who god's law is the word of god incarnate significantly she promises those who eat me will hunger still those who drink of me will thirst for more syrac 24 verse 21 you know these words from the new testament jesus applies them to himself in john 4 10 to 14 when speaking to the samaritan woman thereby clearly identifying himself with wisdom personified as described in the old testament in jesus the words of barok 337 to 38 we hear them every christmas night have come true she appeared upon earth upon earth and lived among men barok 337 the new testament and the gospel of john in particular clearly lift the veil god's wisdom as described in proverbs 8 to 9 and wisdom 7 to 8 and syrac 24 is none other than god's logos the second person of the trinity who has become man in jesus christ the same interpretation is found in saint paul compare for example wisdom 726 she is the reflection of eternal light the spotless mirror of the power of god the image of his goodness to what saint paul says about christ in second corinthians 4 4 he is the likeness of god or in colossians 115 the image of the invisible god hebrews 13 he reflects the glory and bears the very stamp of god's nature first corinthians 124 christ is the power of god and the wisdom of god christ has become for us wisdom from god first corinthians 130 in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge colossians 23 such as also being the interpretation of most of the church fathers particularly in the arian controversy remember when they were fighting whether christ was 100 divine or not really proverbs 822 to 31 was adduced to argue for the pre-existence and divinity of the logos throughout the ages there has never been a doubt that the figure of wisdom described in the old testament as a mediator between god and creation is clearly a prefiguration of god's logos the second person of the trinity who with the incarnation appeared upon earth and lived among men barok 337 why then was god's wisdom personified as a female figure one might ask according to the rabbis and the early church fathers this this depiction of wisdom is a rhetorical device by presenting god's law in the figure of a beautiful woman the young man student of wisdom his the young man's desire is aroused to go after her with ardent love rather than fear and trembling which will never induce one to love god and his laws with all one's heart and all one's soul once the soul has been in kindled with love for wisdom and purified by following her ways as described in the books of proverbs and cohella it will enter into the divine holy of holies there the soul will be united to the divine and the one who was addressed as a son in proverbs will there be discovered himself to be the bride of the song of songs that is the bride of the messiah king the divine bridegroom you have a text of Gregory of Nissa explaining that on your handout I won't read it out now but you understand the logic the rabbis say if you proverbs in kindles your heart to fall in love with this woman you go after her and you start living how what she instructs to like Scott Han was saying last night you you live according to what she says and then you're purified and the book of cohella it makes you realize that all this is vanity and then you're ready to enter the holy of holies which is a song of songs and there suddenly you realize your switching position you're no longer the young man going after that beautiful woman you realize actually she is she is the bridegroom she is the logos in our term Christ incarnate and our soul is actually the spouse there is however also a different maybe less developed but valid tradition in the church which associates wisdom with the Holy Spirit again dr. Han mentioned that in his prayer his morning thus Saint Irenaeus of Lyon writes in the second century you have that on handout number 13 for with him that is God the Father were always present the word and wisdom so Irenaeus distinguishes the word and wisdom and then he explains the son and the spirit he equates wisdom and the spirit by whom and in whom freely and spontaneously God made all things to whom he also speaks saying let us father wisdom and word let us make man after our own image and likeness there are indeed good reasons to identify wisdom not just with God's logos but also with the Holy Spirit in fact the book of wisdom itself distinguishes between wisdom and the spirit of wisdom in some places thus in the beginning of the book of wisdom we read for example wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul nor dwell in a body enslaved for sin for a holy and disciplined spirit will flee from deceit so here wisdom is characterized as a spirit similarly the 21 glories of wisdom which we praised we read earlier this hymn in her is a spirit undefiled pure those 21 praises they are attributes of wisdom spirit in her there's a spirit that is intelligent holy unique manifold subtle mobile clear etc etc I prayed Solomon says and the spirit of wisdom came to me and in wisdom nineteen seven nine seventy he seems to equate wisdom and the Holy Spirit when he says who has learned I counsel unless thou has given wisdom and send thy holy spirit from on high he is very clear as a great Russian theologian of the last century with the name Sergei Bulgakov points out all of these expressions are undoubtedly evidence of an ontological understanding of wisdom so something that exists outside of humanity and somehow outside of it it exists it has being that's the correct translation of ontologically had wisdom has being but scripture does not offer the possibility of referring her entirely so to say to the domain of the second person of the Trinity nor entirely to the third person of the Trinity another good example is wisdom seven twenty five to twenty six when it says she's a breath of the power of God and a pure emanation of the glory of the almighty for she's a reflection of eternal light spotless mirror of the working of God and in an image of his goodness while the Holy Spirit is obviously the breath of God the expressions emanation of glory of the almighty reflection of eternal light and image of his goodness fit rather the sun who according to Hebrew one three as I read earlier is the reflection of the glory of God and bears the very stamp of God's nature and who is the visible image of the invisible God Colossians one fifteen and whom we confess in the creed to be light of light from light yeah that's also characterization of wisdom yet again in the words in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God's and prophets fit rather the description of the Holy Spirit so what are we to do the great nineteenth century German theologian Matthias Joseph Sheben who is not very well known but of great importance and I just learned last night from Dr. Han that Emmaus Press is slowly translating his twelve volumes into English which is great news because you can't buy them in German any longer but you were married you were Anglophones are always the one who keep the tradition alive he's a very important figure and he sees in this oscillating description of wisdom that at one point looks like the the logos and then again she looks like the Holy Spirit the very reason why now gets a bit complicated but not too much he sees here the very reason why the sapienza genita that is the generated wisdom yeah which is the son of God the second person of the Trinity you know second person of the Trinity is generated by the father is presented under the type of a female principle on the one hand she even says this is so because she wisdom is dressed in colors that fit the Holy Spirit who as you know in Hebrew is female Roach on the other hand it follows according to Sheben that the application of these passages is not restricted to the incarnate wisdom yeah so all these passages are not restricted to incarnate wisdom Christ but aims at the same time at a further person a person who stands in the order of creation in an analogical relationship to Christ wisdom incarnate as the Holy Spirit to the logos in the Godhead so in the other another word he's saying by describing wisdom as a female the Holy Spirit is aiming at describing at the one one hand wisdom incarnate yeah Christ or only mediated between God and God and humanity but then there is an other person who stands in relation to Christ in the same relationship or an analogic relationship as the Holy Spirit to Christ to the logos in the Trinity and how those two operate in the work of redemption yeah and he says because the Holy Spirit intended to while describing a prefiguring Christ the incarnate wisdom and all these wisdom texts he also intended already to to give us an image of that person who will stand in relationship to the incarnate wisdom analogically as the Holy Spirit to to the logos and that of course as you know is Mary whom we also call the co-redemptrix she truly cooperates with Christ by being this like Maximilian Colby will say quasi incarnation of the Holy Spirit in her the Holy Spirit is cooperating with Christ in this work of of redemption now this would take and more than another conference to to unfold that but that's the reason she even says why when we read the Old Testament and we and these see these wisdom texts and it's female and it looks so much like a lady and yet we hesitate because it seems to be a divine person he says the Holy Spirit intended to to not only describe Christ but at the same time point at this further person who is Mary seat of wisdom and the mother of the church for shame and the entirely surgical and devotional tradition of the church this person is none other than the Virgin Mary seat of wisdom and mother of the church now finally we come to Mary anyone acquainted with the Catholic tradition and as Mary and feast knows that these texts proverb AIDS are at 24 and wisdom seven to nine have as of old both liturgically and devotionally been applied to Mary until the second Vatican Council for example proverbs 822 to 31 which is the text that prefigures Christ was read on the feast days of the Immaculate Conception and Syrac 24 was the reading for a number of devotional Mary and masses the most famous example of devotional lit literature that uses the description of the pre-existent wisdom in order to incite further and love for Mary in the souls is as you know Louis de Montfort's famous true devotion to Mary is now that a typical deviation of Catholic Latria as the technical term is or is it a legitimate hyperdolia so are we here as the Protestants would say exaggerating and adoring Mary which we don't or is it a legitimate way of veneration that is based on the scriptures since the liturgy crypto and tradition since the liturgy is the proper sits in leave which like cardinal denada so beautifully said in the morning you have one beautiful text in the mass if even the whole homily is not might not be you have the word of God the word of God is not a word for the bookshelf the word of God if you want to hear it in its primary context is the liturgy it's there that the Lord speaks true it to us so if we hear those texts in the liturgy we can know the church never fails in what she proclaims since the liturgy is the proper sits in leave them for the divine scriptures we may be assured that the church is not teaching heresy by applying these subgeneral texts to Mary rather we have here a perfect example of what we call Lex or Andy equals Lex credendi that means listening to the church in prayer we can learn what the church believes if you want to know what the church believes listen to what she prays according to she even the church recognizes in Mary the perfect image of her pre-existent son the eternal wisdom of God and thus applies those texts to Mary which present wisdom as the perfect image and likeness of God companion and helper and therefore daughter of God in an eminent way that is child and spouse at the same time one in the form of the other remember those wisdom text they'll always describe wisdom as this child that plays before God she's a daughter of God she's a spouse of God so those texts present wisdom in these female spouse and daughter terms as such with respect to the world she wisdom is queen of all things mother of life and light the application of these texts to Mary proves that the church sees in Mary the perfect image and copy of the original prototype who is her son wisdom incarnate yeah Mary has truly become the perfect comic copy copy and image of Christ she explains through a unique communion with the original image which is Christ himself Mary has become so similar to the prototype that all the virtues of the original image have proportionally become her own therefore the image of Mary which results from the accommodation of these passages to her person is justified however the church did not only derive the congruence of wisdom traits with those of Mary by simply comparing the description of wisdom to traits of other versions virtues of Mary's that might have been otherwise established rather the church concludes from the close communion between Mary and the person of wisdom that her wisdom description proportionally also fits to Mary for that reason one may assume that the application of these wisdom texts to Mary lay as the I'll explain in a minute this Latin turn senses consequence in the intention of the Holy Spirit so he's saying the Holy Spirit intended as a set as a consequential sense so a secondary sense is intended which derives from the primary sense because the Holy Spirit knows of course that God is going to create the immaculate conception who in all her perfection will be the perfect copy of wisdom incarnate this association of Mary with the with the person of wisdom lies according to she been in the fact that Mary as and now again he's quoting famous terms from the liturgy as the Aurora luce sapiensia the dawn of wisdom's light we call her and the mullier amic the soul is so the woman closed with the sun revelation 12 is Mary is with regard to wisdom in a unique way it's seat vessel and dwelling place and at the same time it's Christ bride and as such has become entirely one with wisdom and he says just as Eve and Adam with respect to their being in the image and likeness of God visa visa the visible world belong together in such a way that the description of the man's virtues comprise also those of the woman in so far as she is with him and as his likeness also the likeness of God so also everything that's being said of wisdom incarnate as the image and likeness of God comprises all that can be said of Mary too so same as everything we say about Adam is holds true for Eve also because the two of them are the image of God so also everything we say about Christ incarnate is perfectly entirely also true of Mary as the new Eve as the scripture proof of Shabon's as the scripture proof Shabon beautifully adduces the song of songs in which the bride is described as the perfect likeness of the bridegroom largely in the same colors as wisdom in Syrac 24 17 let me explain Syrac 24 1 to 7 this this is handout number 14 describes the dwelling and working of wisdom in the completion of the visible creation in the metaphor of a mist covering the earth and a pillar of cloud now this is wisdom's role in creation of the world this then is said in parallel to wisdom's dwelling and working among men in the form of a fragrant garden and a water source overflowing with wisdom we have here a perfect prefiguration of the incarnation everything that wisdom is and was from all eternity is communicated to her human soul and flesh which in the Biblical language is her tent her temple tabernacle it's what Dr. Berks must have in the morning Christ's body is his tent and his temple tabernacle when the creator of all so Godfather commanded wisdom the logos and put to put down her tent her skin he said to her in Jacob make your dwelling and in Israel let your inheritance be the same wisdom who had her origin in God from all ages and who will not cease to be in all eternity ministered before God in the holy tent that is the mosaic tent and so was established in Zion in the city the text says which God loves as much as he loves wisdom he gave her rest in Jerusalem her domain that is God commanded wisdom to take her dwelling in the people of Israel embodied in the city of Jerusalem which is Zion there she struck her roots and grew into a paradisiacal garden producing a perfume that she herself compares to the odor of incense in the holy tent there by restoring the original garden sanctuary of Eden in Jerusalem unfortunately we can't go into the details of Syrac 24 but what is described in brief is how wisdom in the gift of the law transforms the people of God whose cultic center is in the temple of Jerusalem into the original once lost but now refound paradise wisdom is overflowing like the rivers of paradise to the four corners of the earth filling the earth with divine wisdom understanding and instruction Jerusalem the covenant bride of God is being transformed into a paradisiacal garden through the indwelling of divine wisdom now you can easily see how the effect of the law in Jerusalem described in Syrac 24 8 to 17 prefigures the mystery of the incarnation she even explains this is a historical sensory image you might also say a symbol which points both backwards to the invisible dwelling and working of wisdom in the completion of creation says pointing to the creation and it's pointing forward in a typological fashion to the visible corporal appearance of wisdom in the world in the event of the incarnation John 114 echoes God's command to wisdom to make her dwelling in the tent in Jerusalem yeah he said take your pitch your tent in Jerusalem and then you know what John says in 114 and the word was made flesh and tabernacled amongst us if you if you were translating it he didn't dwell amongst us it's pitched its tent in Jacob make your dwelling the canvas for wisdom's tent is none other than Christ human soul and body which like Jerusalem in the image now shares all of wisdom's glories through the hypostatic union Christ humanity is seat and spouse of the eternal wisdom it has become for us the source of all life and whoever drinks the water which he will give will never thirst the water he gives will become in the believer a spring of water dwelling up for eternal life the sensory image of wisdom taking root in Jerusalem still she makes playing you're all becoming experts on shame finds it most plastic and vivid fulfillment in the flesh of wisdom incarnate so in Christ humanity while it wonderfully characterizes wisdom supernatural spiritual and heavenly being as a daughter of God and mother of the world it also comprises its symbolic typologically meaning sorry it also comprises in its symbolic and typologically meaning so its prefiguration per se the physical mother of wisdom incarnate yeah because she is finally the flesh from whom the canvas for the tent of wisdom this is marvelously exemplified in the bride of the song of songs the other bride of the divine bridegroom is praised in a description that resembles the effects of wisdom's descent into Jerusalem almost literally Dr. Bergsmar cited this text in a different context this morning also perfectly legitimate but if you at the same time song 4 12 to 11 describes the bride as the interior of the temple in Jerusalem and the same way as Syrac 24 describes what happens to Jerusalem when wisdom takes its dwelling yeah so by the bridegroom coming into her she is transformed into the temple which is nothing in paradise restored when he says a garden locked is my sister my bride a garden lock a fountain sealed your shoes are a paradise of pomegranates with all choices fruit henna and nard etc etc a study has been done the way the beloved of the song of songs is described 27 terms overlap with the description of Jerusalem in Syrac 24 so the the lover who is Christ coming into his beloved Mary and thereby humanity transforms us into what he is just like the temple in Jerusalem in which wisdom has taken its dwelling so also the bride of the song of song has been transformed into a paradisiacal garden a well of living water flowing streams from Lebanon through her marriage with the divine bridegroom the bride of the song of songs has become the perfect image of paradise restored a source of living water now according to the anonymous tradition of the church both west and east this depiction of God's bride refers first and foremost to the divinizing effect that wisdom incarnate has had on the woman in whom wisdom not only tabernacle for nine months but whose flesh more over served as the canvas for wisdom's tent all of wisdom's attributes can therefore analogically also be predicated of Mary and for this very reason it might be so she reminds us that the Holy Spirit had intended for the biblical description of wisdom to also point towards the role of Mary the spouse and seat of wisdom in the mystery of the redemption now this was a long theological tractatus it gets easier now the New Testament seems in fact to confirm confirm these dogmatic considerations of the famous German theologian a precious hint in this direction might have been given in the gospel of John more precisely in the passage which tells us that the beloved disciple took Jesus mother into his own remember the last time I cited this Solomon decided to take wisdom at his as his spouse John 19 27 be in his testament from the cross as Saint John Paul the second calls it the crucified Christ famously addresses his mother and John his beloved disciple with the words behold your mother woman behold your son this gesture was not simply a last act of care of for his own mother who being a widow had no one to protect and look after her after the death of her only son as some exedits wanted to be much more importantly Jesus thus entrusted John and represented by him every other Christian disciple to the eternal maternal care of his own mother as Saint John Paul the second powerfully affirms Mary's motherhood which becomes man's inheritance is a gift a gift which Christ himself makes personally to every individual the Redeemer entrusts Mary to John because he entrusts John to Mary at the foot of the cross there begins that special entrusting of humanity to the mother of Christ which in the history of the church has been practiced and expressed in different ways you find this in John for the seconds encyclical red and tourist martyr however the words with which the gospel concludes this scene from that hour the disciple took her into his own John 19 27 be and yet another dimension to this newly established relationship between Mary and John no other than Cardinal Ratzinger in a famous commentary on the then Pope John Paul the second in cyclical explicates the deeper meaning of these words to us Cardinal Ratzinger writes the Holy Father John Paul the second offers in this context a very subtle exegesis of the words with which the gospel concludes this scene from that hour the disciple took her to his own that is the usual sorry the usual into his own home is the usual translation but the depths of the event the Pope stresses comes to light only when we translate the passage literally in that case we would actually have to say he took her into his own so not into his own home which makes it like a little homey scene no no the text says he took her into his own for the Holy Father this implies a quite personal relationship between the disciple every disciple and Mary a letting of Mary into the in most core of one's own mental and spiritual life handing over of one self into her feminine and maternal existence a reciprocal self commitment that becomes the ever-new way to Christ's birth and brings about Christ taking form in man now I'll explain notice how both John Paul the second and Cardinal Ratzinger insinuate that the words he took her into his own mean much more than taking care of Mary as a kind of foster mother who needs to be taken care of as a widow they also need mean much more than John's acceptance of Mary's maternal role towards himself by taking her into his house because we ordinarily in the strong sense of the word depend on our own mothers only during our childhood and maybe maximum our teens unless you're an Italian we have we have a hard time imagining a group of man sorry we have a hard time imagining a grown-up man accepting Mary as his mother in the same way as a newborn baby would allow itself to be adopted even though we know in faith that John was born in exactly this moment of water and spirit by Jesus and Mary the ordinary listener does not imagine John adopting the attitude of a neonate towards his mother that is why the Pope's interpretation of the words he took her into his own as a reaction to Jesus words woman behold your son are all the more astonishing though superficially only a mother son relationship is established John's reaction was so Saint John Paul II tells us that John admitted Mary into the inmost core of his mental and spiritual life into his entire being and tell me where's the son who gives his mother access into the innermost regions of his mental and spiritual life into the deepest intimacy of his own being is that not rather the entry one would grant to a spouse in fact Cardinal Ratzinger adds another astonishing phrase he insinuates that the phrase he took her into his own implies a reciprocal self commitment which entailed John I quote John's entry into her reality as a woman and mother that is handing over of himself into her feminine and maternal existing its existence that is not only was John called to Grand Mary access into his intimacy the Pope is also insinuating that John was somehow received not only Mary's maternal but was received into not only Mary's maternal but into her feminine existence he distinguishes the two this to my mind is clearly spousal language now if you're tempted to think and I know you're not because you all devout American Catholics but let's presume you're all listening with German ears that are very little inclined to embrace any paper meditation now let's let's presume you're tempted to think that the Pope is reading more into the text than the words he took her into his own actually yield then let me show you that from an exegetical point of view the Pope is spot on even if neither the text nor the footnotes reveal that he was aware to what degree his me meditation is covered by the Bible itself itself what gives me so much confidence I think you already know the previous century was witness to a heated debate between two eminent Catholic scholars of international renown one was Ignace de la Potterie whom you might know the other one is less famous and in applied biblical conferences France nearing they were fighting precisely about the exact meaning of these words he took her into his own or rather how how to render this Greek original a laben out in a study in English while the debate raged over whether this meant he received her into his face as de la Potterie would have it or whether the exact meaning of the phrase was rather to be rendered he took her into his own home which is the one that ended up in most of the Bible translations both exegetes agreed that the closest biblical parallel to this seemingly elliptic phrase is to be found in wisdom 8 18 where King Solomon proclaims that have after having pondered all of wisdom's virtues he decided to take her literally into his own in the context of wisdom 8 18 all agree that the expression to take into one's own expresses accurately the image of taking wisdom as a spouse if this is what it means with regard to lady wisdom then why hesitate so much in recognizing the same metaphor and John's relationship to Mary the spousal meaning obviously does not impose itself overtly in the context of the crucifixion where Jesus expressly entrusts Mary and John as mother and son towards each other and yet if we take the evangelist by his word the spousal imagery is exactly the image he might have had in mind as we have already seen it's also the meaning which Saint John Paul the second seems to have uncovered in his own meditation on Mary's role in the life of the disciple the gospel of John is of course the most spiritual of all and so we must not make the mistake to understand John is having taken Mary literally as a spouse rather a deeper spousal relationship on the spiritual level is being hinted at here just like the parallel to King Solomon spouse relationship to lady wisdom reveals which after all was also purely spiritual this is furthermore confirmed if we read the scene in the wider context as you are surely all aware of because you're all faithful readers of Dr. Hans books Mary is here addressed as woman rather than by her first name for highly significant reasons this title evokes at once the so-called proto gospel of Genesis 3 15 the wedding of Cana and Revelation 12 now that Jesus hour has come Mary is revealed as the new Eve participating in a unique even if subordinate but still unique way in the crushing of the serpent's head the wedding is consumed and the new wine of the Holy Spirit is being given in the theology of the gospel of John Mary is not only the mother of Jesus but also the spouse of the new Adam who together with him gives birth to the new humanity represented by John's presence underneath the cross the eschatological people of God Ignacio La Poterie adds one more important observation in John 1 11 to 13 we read he came into his own and his own did not accept him but to all who received him who believed in his name he gave power to become children of God who were born not of blood blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man but God notice those who receive Jesus into their own are given the power to become children of God curiously Jesus commands John to do this exact same with Mary in the very hour that this regeneration of the children of God is taking place it is as if you were saying receive her and you will be receiving me this seems to be also the meaning which John Paul is second in the reading of Joseph Radzinger gathered from these words when he writes that taking Mary into one's own refers to a handing oneself over into her feminine and maternal existence a reciprocal self commitment that becomes the every new way to Christ's birth and brings about Christ's taking form in man by receiving Mary into our own and handing our self over into her feminine and maternal existence Christ is being born and takes on form in us is that not exactly what scripture confesses with regard to lady wisdom passing into holy souls from age to age she produces friends of God and prophets for God loves nothing so much as the one who dwells with wisdom the sublime way of acquiring wisdom as a wife sister mother and bride then so the gospel of John seems to suggest there by confirming anything that Grinion ever taught in this respect is by taking into one's in most being the seat of wisdom the virgin mother of Mary who through her own unique position as a spouse of both God and man will bring about as it were another incarnation the term from Elizabeth of the Trinity will bring about as it were another incarnation of the eternal wisdom in our humble human souls with this let us close with the prayer Lord we thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit who reveals to us your mystery the mystery of wisdom incarnate we thank you Lord that you love us with a greater love than a young man rejoices over his bride you truly are the spouse of our soul and we thank you for having given us Mary and calling us to love her with that same love with which we are called to love you thank you for having made her the mediatics of all grace thank you for having given us a prefiguration of whom she is in those beautiful wisdom texts thank you for every grace and seed you have sown in our soul in this 75 minutes Lord with John we want to receive Mary into our in most being so as to become entirely dependent on her and through her of you Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit amen congratulations you survived your German lecture