# Seeking wisdom during advent
*2009-12-15*

> Bill Young reflects on the distinction between factual knowledge and true spiritual wisdom as we prepare for the birth of Christ.

## A prayer for desires

Good morning. This is Bill Young. Today is Thursday of the third week of Advent. Before we dive into our main topic, I want to share a prayer given to me by my aunt, Sister Mary Truce, called the Prayer to Obtain Favors: 'Hail and blessed be the hour and the moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary at midnight in Bethlehem. In that hour of beauty, O my God, I offer my prayer to grant my desires through the merits of our Savior Jesus Christ and of His blessing. Amen.'

## The O Antiphons

Today we are reading from 'A Joyful Journey: Daily Meditations, Activities, and Books for Advent for Families.' Our topic is 'Seeking Wisdom.' To begin, it is helpful to look at the familiar Advent hymn, 'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,' which is based on the old Antiphons dating back at least to the 5th century. Each Antiphon begins with 'O,' followed by a title for Jesus used by the prophet Isaiah to refer to the coming Messiah. Each of these seven Antiphons is assigned a day during the last week before Christmas. Today, we specifically ask for the grace of wisdom.

## Facts versus wisdom

I struggle with this topic personally, and I often pray that the Holy Spirit would grant me wisdom. We live in an age where we have more facts at our fingertips than any people before us. With the internet, we can instantly find the distance between the Earth and the Sun, the weather in Calcutta, how to change a fuse, or a recipe for tomato soup. But facts are not wisdom. Wisdom is a combination of respect for the past, awareness of the present, and hope for the future. Wisdom is knowing where you have been, where you are, and where you are going.

## The incarnation and the church

The community of the Church lives in the past, present, and future all at once. This is the core meaning of the Incarnation: the Divine meets the human, and eternity meets the present moment. As a family activity, you might write the first verse of the hymn on a card and let your children decorate it. Remember that the traditional symbol of wisdom is the flame of an oil lamp, which also represents the Holy Spirit.

## Closing prayer

Let us pray: 'O come, Thou Wisdom, from on high, who orders all things mighty; to us the path of knowledge show and teach us in thy way to go. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee, O root of Jesse.' As You were born in the world on Christmas Day, we pray: be born in us. Be born in our families. Amen.

*True wisdom is not the accumulation of facts, but the spiritual ability to see how our past, present, and future are united in the Incarnation.*