In reflecting on Proverbs 8:22-24 and Luke 1:26-38, we enter into a profound contemplation of the divine plan, especially in the spirit of Feria II after the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, where the Church meditates on God’s eternal wisdom and His perfect will manifest in Christ.
Proverbs 8:22-24: The Eternal Wisdom
“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived.”
In this passage, we encounter the voice of Divine Wisdom, which the Church Fathers traditionally understood to be a reference to Christ, the eternal Logos, or Word of God. St. Augustine sees in this passage the prefiguration of Christ’s eternal existence with the Father: “Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, was begotten before the world was made” (Sermon 141.2). The Son of God is not a creation, but begotten from all eternity, the Wisdom through whom all things were made (cf. John 1:3).
This idea is echoed by St. Athanasius, who in his defense of the divinity of Christ against the Arians, insisted that this passage proves the Son’s eternal nature. He writes, “He is called the Wisdom and Power of God not after our human likeness, but as being Himself the Word, and the Framer of all things” (Contra Arianos 2:22). Thus, Wisdom’s role in creation as described in Proverbs prefigures Christ’s incarnation, showing how the Eternal Word was destined to become flesh for our salvation.
Luke 1:26-38: The Annunciation and the Incarnation of Wisdom
In the Gospel of Luke, we witness the fulfillment of this eternal plan. The angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will conceive and bear a Son, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Here, we see that the Eternal Wisdom spoken of in Proverbs has now come to dwell among us.
St. Ambrose, commenting on the Annunciation, writes: “The mystery of this gift was prefigured from all eternity, for Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, chose to be born of a Virgin to redeem mankind” (Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 2:12). The eternal Wisdom that was with God from the beginning now takes human form through the humble fiat of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This moment reveals the profound unity between divine providence and human freedom—God, who exists outside of time, chose to enter time and history, taking on human flesh to redeem mankind.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux also reflects on the significance of Mary’s response to the angel’s message. He notes that the entire salvation of the human race depended upon her humble consent: “The angel awaits an answer…We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of mercy. The price of our salvation is offered to you” (Sermon on the Annunciation 4.8). Mary’s fiat is the key moment in salvation history where the Eternal Wisdom becomes incarnate, and the Word begins His mission of redemption.
The Union of Wisdom and Redemption
Together, these two readings highlight the eternal plan of God’s Wisdom and its perfect fulfillment in the Incarnation. Proverbs 8:22-24 reminds us that God’s wisdom is eternal, predating all creation. This same Wisdom takes flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, announced in Luke 1:26-38, marking the beginning of our redemption.
The Fathers often saw this connection between eternal Wisdom and its unfolding in time. St. Thomas Aquinas, reflecting on this relationship, teaches that “the Incarnation was the fulfillment of the eternal counsel of God, prepared from before the foundation of the world” (Summa Theologiae III, Q.1, Art. 3). Thus, the divine plan, hidden in the eternal Wisdom of God, finds its culmination in the Word becoming flesh through Mary, the new Eve who ushers in a new creation.
Conclusion: The Gift of Divine Wisdom in Our Lives
As we meditate on these readings in the spirit of Feria II after the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, the Church calls us to recognize the immense wisdom of God, which transcends time yet enters our history to save us. In this time after Pentecost, when the Church reflects on the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers, we are invited to follow the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, through her humility and openness to God’s will, became the vessel through which the eternal Wisdom of God entered the world.
In our own lives, we too are called to receive this divine Wisdom—first in faith, by acknowledging Christ as the eternal Word of God, and then in action, by conforming our lives to His will, trusting in His divine plan, as Mary did. As St. Gregory of Nyssa teaches: “The soul that has been purified becomes receptive to the wisdom of God, and the more it shares in that wisdom, the more it partakes of God Himself” (On the Life of Moses 2.231). May we, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, grow in this wisdom and share in the divine life that Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, has come to offer us.