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| Mosaic from the Philippines: Mary of Nazareth |
Sophia - Wisdom - Mary's Son
In simple skin and fragile flesh
Are you born among us still
A light to shine on shadowed earth
Sophia - Wisdom - Jesus Christ
Beginning of beginnings all
Are you come to make us one
A peace upon our fractured whole
Sophia - Wisdom - Daring Love
Upon forsaken crosses hung
How your grief, such human sorrow
Wails throughout the wounded world
Sophia - Wisdom - Holy Fool
Forgiven soul, forgiving sin
Scatter now the proud, the mighty
And gather mercy's exiled kin
Sophia - Wisdom - Morning Star
Rising now in midnight's dome
Find the children lost and frightened
And lead the way, our journey home
Notes: Below, you'll see a text from "Wisdom of Solomon" that I've found particularly inspiring along this journey across the Mediterranean Basin. L. Michael White relates the text to early gospel images and understandings of Jesus.
I'm still not sure if there's a tune for this hymn text.
Something old? Something new? Open to all suggestions!
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| Mosaic from Nazareth: Mary |
From: The Wisdom of Solomon, Chapters 7 and 8
I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,
for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.
There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible, beneficent, humane,
steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.
For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.
For she is a breath of the power of God,
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.
For she is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets;
for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
She is more beautiful than the sun,
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be superior,
for it is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.
She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
and she orders all things well.
