NOTES for Sir 24:1-11

In today’s Old Testament reading, Wisdom herself addresses us. This Wisdom is not the Lord Himself, but neither is she merely one of His attributes. She is a person! God’s Wisdom differs so greatly from human intellect that she appears as a distinct person. But that is not all. This very personal, personified Wisdom can dwell within a people. Jesus son of Sirach says that she dwells in Jacob and Israel. Yet it is evident that he is speaking of the people of God as such, and therefore today this very Wisdom dwells in the Church of Christ. And we see that the wisdom of the Church is not the sum of the intelligent thoughts of her members through all the centuries of the Church’s existence, but something granted by God, something proper to and belonging to Him Himself...