ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET

III before Lent – 04.02.07. – Evensong

Fr Ivan Aquilina

The inheritance of eternal life is our chief business. Our journey is not aimless or pointless. It is not a series of reactions to the challenges of life that end in death. Our journey is linear and forms an integral part of the journey of humanity. It is a series of responses to Gods’ loving call. It is a journey towards one common destination and fulfilment: a journey towards God in his kingdom, that kingdom which we mirror here on earth as we journey on.

This journey has a compass, it is called wisdom and today’s first reading is a hymn of praise to wisdom. This hymn tells us that by fixing our eyes on wisdom and desiring it we will lead a fulfilled life and like the king in the first reading we shall reign for ever.

Whilst our first reading sings the praises of wisdom and makes promises to those who follow it, it does not tell us much about the wisdom we are to pursue. The psalms appointed for tonight, our second reading and our anthem fill this gap. Let’s have a look.

The first psalm puts us straight on track. There are no introductions or lengthy preparations, like any good exposition it comes straight to the point. Wisdom is found in obeying the will of God. Obeying the will of God brings fulfilment, just like a tree planted by the water-side is fulfilled. No wonder than that in the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom Wisdom is invoked by the priest before proclaiming the gospel. The Gospel is one joyful hymn showing how Jesus fulfilled the will of God. This is wisdom: obeying His law, fulfilling His will. In the Eastern Liturgy they came to see the word Wisdom also as another name for the Holy Spirit as He, the third person of the Trinity, will enable us to join Jesus in his role of obeying the Father’s law and fulfilling His will. “In His will is our peace”. What a wise counsel for all of us who strive for peace.

The second psalm joins in with the first and proclaims that those who are wise, those who have the Holy Spirit, are those who serve the Lord by doing His will. When we reflect upon this we will make ours the perplexity of the psalmist and wonder why the heathen so furiously rage together: and why people imagine a vain thing? Why so many still follow shadows, why they still seek the living among the dead! Why they are so busy and committed to deconstruct the wisdom of the ages and replace it with the heresy of Relativism that proclaims half-truths, that says that there are no facts but only interpretations, that is forcing so many to live without roots or worse still without a future.

Wisdom is a state, it is obeying the will of God, what is its context?

AS our second reading shows us clearly the Church is the context in which we seek and live Wisdom. If not by the hand of Paul, the letter to the Colossians is surely from his school. St. Paul’s understanding of Church is very important. In Pauline theology the Church is the pleroma of Christ, that is, the space filled by Christ. It is a space beyond time and space and yet also exists in space and time. Here the Church is the continuation of the Incarnation. If the Church is the continuation of the life of Christ than it must also be the continuation of Jesus in his saying YES to God. In the Church we are called to become this action of Jesus, this action of saying YES to the Father: constantly fulfilling His will united in perfect love. This process is aptly called by St Paul as: life hidden with Christ in God. In this hidden life we are shaped as Church which rids itself of the elementary principles of the world of which we had a list in the second reading. Living with Christ who is holy makes us holy, the holy Church: the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

As tonight’s anthem sings for us living this hidden life with Christ in God fills us with real joy and peace and takes us on a plane beyond words. The life of the wise is love beyond all telling where Jesus will be our glory now and through eternity, where that most beautiful and perfect of all symphonies is known as Silence.
Come Holy Spirit, Come Wisdom from on High and lead us to the hidden life with Christ in the Father.