The first reading for today is from the Book of Wisdom (7:22-8:1) and is one of the most beautiful descriptions of divine Wisdom in all of Scripture. You can hear the author’s reverence when he speaks “a breath of the power of God,” “the image of His goodness,” “she reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other.” There is a recognition that Wisdom is not merely cleverness or human intelligence. The author recognizes that Wisdom is the divine life of God shared with His creation. It is the divine presence active in the world, bringing order out of chaos, and goodness out of confusion. Wisdom is, as the text says, “the refulgence of eternal light” — that shining reflection of God’s glory that guides all who seek truth and goodness.

It is also more than poetry. Christians recognize this divine presence in the world as a foreshadowing of Christ, “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Just as Wisdom is described as the image of God’s goodness, so St. Paul says that Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). Just as Wisdom “pervades and penetrates all things,” so the Spirit of Christ fills all creation with life and light.

This passage, then, draws our hearts toward the mystery of the Trinity — the Father, whose power is revealed; the Son, who is the radiant image of that power; and the Holy Spirit, who moves with gentle might throughout creation. It means that divine Wisdom — this living breath of God — is not distant or abstract. She is near. She moves within every circumstance where truth and goodness are sought. Whenever we act with patience, discernment, and love, we allow Wisdom to order things well.

Wisdom is that quiet light that helps a parent guide a child with fairness; that calm in the heart that helps a person choose mercy over anger; that inner clarity that helps us say, “This is the right thing to do, even when it costs me.”

The final line says it all: “She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well.”

When we look at our world — so full of confusion, injustice, and disorder — it’s tempting to think chaos has the last word. But this verse is a promise: the Wisdom of God still holds creation together. Even when human foolishness seems to rule the day, God’s Wisdom is quietly at work, bringing His plan to fulfillment.

Today, take a quiet moment apart and pray for Wisdom. Not just to understand more, but to live rightly. To see as God sees. To love what God loves. Pray to let the Spirit of Wisdom order our thoughts, words, and actions so that, through us, God may continue to “order all things well.”

Image Credit: Parable of the Unjust Steward (A.N. Mironov), CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons