Readings:
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 24:23–31
Luke 11:27–28
As we enter the feria quarta (Wednesday) of the fifth week after the Octave of Pentecost, Holy Mother Church offers us two passages which, when held together, unfold the harmony of divine Wisdom and the blessedness of obedience. Sirach 24:23–31 exalts Wisdom as the fountain of eternal life, while Luke 11:27–28 reorients our understanding of true blessedness—not merely in the flesh, but in fidelity to God’s Word.
The Fruitfulness of Divine Wisdom
In Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), Wisdom is likened to a tree bearing sweet fruit, to a river swelling into fullness, and to a source of nourishment that overflows to enrich many. Verse 24 says: “I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.” The sacred writer, traditionally identified as Jesus ben Sirach, personifies Wisdom as a maternal figure—one who nourishes the soul with holy fear, understanding, and hope. She proceeds from God and dwells in His people.
This Wisdom is not human cleverness, but divine understanding. It is intimately linked to the Law (“All these things are the book of life and the covenant of the most High God,” v. 31). As St. Irenaeus of Lyons observed, “Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace; and the Spirit is truth”(Against Heresies, III.24.1). The Law, rightly understood, is not a burden but a stream of grace when lived in the Spirit of Wisdom.
St. Ambrose, too, reminds us: “The Law is spiritual, for it teaches that all things are to be referred to the worship of God, and that all must be done in a spiritual manner” (On the Holy Spirit, II.9.95). Thus, when Sirach speaks of Wisdom flowing like the Euphrates and filling the garden of the Most High, he speaks not of mere instruction but of a divine life that overflows from the soul to the Church and from the Church to the world.
True Blessedness: Hearing and Keeping the Word
In the Gospel, a woman in the crowd cries out to Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck!” (Luke 11:27). It is a natural, even reverent, praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yet Christ’s response redirects attention to a deeper truth: “Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it” (v. 28).
This is not a contradiction of Marian devotion but a perfect affirmation of it. St. Augustine clarifies: “Mary was more blessed in receiving the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ” (On Holy Virginity, 3). That is, the Virgin’s greatest glory is not merely biological, but spiritual: she heard the word of God and kept it without stain.
St. John Chrysostom likewise says: “Observe how He again prefers virtue to kindred: for what He said is to this effect: ‘Ye say to Me, because of the womb and paps; I say to you, because of hearing My word: this makes such a mother, not the other’” (Homilies on Matthew, 44).
Thus, the Gospel reminds us that true blessedness lies not in proximity to the sacred but in fidelity to it. We are invited not just to admire holiness, but to live it—to be docile to divine Wisdom, as Sirach teaches, and to treasure the Word within us, as the Virgin did.
A Pentecostal Path: Wisdom in Action
During this green season after Pentecost, the Church, clothed in verdant hope, places before us the fruits of the Holy Ghost: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. These gifts are not abstract—they are embodied in the lives of the saints, in the Tradition, in the liturgy.
Sirach’s vision of Wisdom issuing forth like the Tigris and Euphrates can be seen as a prefiguration of the Spirit poured out at Pentecost, and the Church’s mission in the world. Luke’s Gospel, meanwhile, grounds us: unless we receive and obey the Word, we cannot bear fruit.
This Wednesday, let us renew our commitment to the interior life: to read Sacred Scripture not as a relic but as the living stream of divine Wisdom; to hear the voice of Christ not merely in sermons but in the silence of prayer; and to imitate the Virgin not only in affection, but in action.
Closing Prayer
O God, who didst instruct Thy faithful with the light of the Holy Ghost: grant us by the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation. May the grace of Wisdom, poured into our souls, bring forth obedience, humility, and the peace that passes understanding, through Christ our Lord. Amen.