Contemplating with Wisdom

Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, Toledo Ohio.

    Advent is soon coming to it's culmination. At the time of this writing, Christmas is only three days away, and it will likely be closer by the time you read this post. It is especially important now to contemplate on the mystery of the incarnation, to reflect upon the birth of Christ with a holy wisdom.

    I don't just say this to encourage you; I am also reminding myself of the urgency of the hour, and the invaluable call to contemplative prayer in these last moments of Advent. My realization of my own inadequacy (apart from God's grace) in the field of contemplation led me to begin reading a document by Saint Pope John Paul II on the Most Holy Rosary, titled Rosarium Virginis Mariae. This is a document in which the excitement of Pope John Paul II shines forth in his writing, likely because the Rosary is his favorite prayer (see paragraph 2)!

    The Rosary is the story of Christ, how He has come to us, why He has come to us, what He has done for us, and what He will do for us... and all of this is told through the eyes of the Blessed Virgin Mary. If, in the Rosary we are not entering into this same gaze of Mary into the life of Her son Jesus; if we fail to contemplate the wisdom of the will of God through the Spirit of Wisdom overshadowing Our Lady, we then find the Rosary to be a heap of empty, useless words (see Saint Pope Paul VI's Marialis Cultus, Paragraph 156). However, if we do contemplate the Lord by the wisdom found in the Immaculata, we then see the face of Christ at every moment, including His most tender moments! Listen to the peace St. John Paul II describes as he explains contemplation through Mary in the first Advent:

    "The contemplation of Christ has an incomparable model in Mary. In a unique way the face of the Son belongs to Mary. It was in her womb that Christ was formed, receiving from her a human resemblance which points to an even greater spiritual closeness. No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary. The eyes of her heart already turned to him at the Annunciation, when she conceived him by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the months that followed she began to sense his presence and to picture his features. When at last she gave birth to him in Bethlehem, her eyes were able to gaze tenderly on the face of her Son, as she 'wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger' (Lk2:7)." -Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 10.

    What a gift that we are called to contemplate the Lord with Our Lady! She does this ceaselessly even now in heaven, so even now we can join with Her in making present again the glories of Jesus Christ, incarnate so near to us that He is with us. (See Paragraph 13.)

    I made mention earlier how the Holy Spirit of Wisdom, in overshadowing Our Lady, can be our source and wellspring of wisdom to contemplate the mysteries of God. This is an action of the Holy Spirit in Her for our sakes, that "the secret thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Luke 2:35), and so that "'they shall call His name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)." (Matthew 1:22.) It is for this reason that in the tradition of the Church, the person of Lady Wisdom in the Wisdom Literature of the Bible has often been seen as a typographical precursor to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

    "Send [Wisdom] forth from the holy heavens, and from the throne of your glory send her, that she may labor at my side and that I may learn what is pleasing to you. For she knows and understands all things, and she will guide me wisely in my actions and guard me with her glory... Who has learned your counsel unless you have given wisdom and sent your Holy Spirit from on high?" -Wisdom 9:10-11, 17

    Our Lady, the Seat of Wisdom, is our powerful intercessor and guide to contemplate the Divine Will of the Lord, who has placed Christ as the capstone, source, and summit of Salvation History. If we embrace Her, choose Her, cry out to Her, and remain faithful to Her, She will make us worthy of the promises of Christ.

"Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this; Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her." -Proverbs 4:5-8

    Let us beg this gift of Wisdom from God, that He may grant us to be servants of the Queen Mother at His side. For if we draw near to the Queen, She will bring us to the King, preparing us that we may be pleasing in His sight.

"Give me Wisdom, the consort at your throne, and do not reject me from among your children; For I am your servant, the child of your maidservant, a man weak and short-lived and lacking in comprehension of judgment and of laws. Indeed, though one be perfect among mortals, if Wisdom, who comes from you, be lacking, that one will count for nothing." -Wisdom 9:4-6

    May God Bless the rest of your Advent! Through Our Lady, may you be immersed more deeply into the mysteries of Christ!