Monday 17 December 2007

O Sapientia!---O Wisdom!

As I often say to my girls, "Sing it if you know it!". Today is the beginning of the ultimate run-down to Christmas. It is marked by special singing. Each day at Evening Prayers before and after the singing of Mary's song, Magnificat, a verse is song called the antiphon. And beginning today 17 December special "O" antiphons are sung lauding the attributes of the Word of God.
The first (today's) is O Wisdom of the Most High...or O Sapientia.
I have thought a bit about wisdom in the last few years, some of my thoughts sad and light are:
  • It has been a cause of some sadness to realise that age does not necessarily bring wisdom. A number of older people I have observed (particularly men rather than women) far from becoming wiser, seem to grow more truculent, resistent to change, fail to capitalise on experience and decidedly lack insight. My prayer? That I may not do this as I grow older. I requires in particular a capacity to not confuse wisdom with a sense of infallibility, which many old men seem to think they possess.
  • And it is just really sad to look at someone as they die and realise that they have resisted even common sense, let alone wisdom, and become more intransigent, difficult and just plain nasty to know.
  • The wisdom I want to pass on to my kids? Be very selective who you are rude to because you will invariably find yourself sitting next to them at a wedding.
  • My contribution to the wit and wisdom and of the 20th Century. Anglicans like to be told what to do so they can go ahead and not do it!

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