CHAPTER FOUR
MARVELS OF WISDOM'S GOODNESS AND MERCY BEFORE HIS INCARNATION
41. Eternal Wisdom was deeply moved by the plight of Adam and all his descendants. He was profoundly distressed at seeing his vessel of honor shattered, his image torn to pieces, his masterpiece destroyed, his representative in this world overthrown.
He listened tenderly to man's sighs and entreaties and he was moved with compassion when he saw the sweat of his brow, the tears in his eyes, the fatigue of his arms, his sadness of heart, his affliction of soul.
The Incarnation is decreed
42. I seem to see this lovable Sovereign convoking and assembling the most holy Trinity, a second time, so to speak, for the purpose of rehabilitating man in the state he formerly created him (cf. Gen. 1:26). We can picture a kind of contest going on in this grand council between eternal Wisdom and God's justice.
43. I seem to hear eternal Wisdom, in his plea on behalf of man, admit that because of his sin man and all his descendants deserve to be condemned and to spend all eternity with the rebel angels. Still, man should be pitied because he sinned more through ignorance and weakness than through malice. He points out that it would be a pity if such an exquisite masterpiece were to become the slave of the devil for ever, and millions upon millions of men were to be lost eternally, through the sin of only one man. Besides, eternal Wisdom draws attention to the places left vacant by the fall of the apostate angels. Would it not be fitting to fill these places? And would not God receive great glory in time and in eternity if man were saved?
44. It seems to me that I hear the God of justice replying that the sentence of death and eternal damnation has been pronounced against man and his descendants, and it must be carried out without pardon or mercy, just as happened in the case of Lucifer and his followers. Man has shown himself ungrateful for the gifts he received, has followed the devil in pride and disobedience and should therefore follow him in his punishment, for sin must necessarily be punished.
45. Eternal Wisdom seeing that nothing on earth can expiate man's sin, that nothing can satisfy divine justice and appease God's anger and still, wishing to save unfortunate man whom he cannot help loving, finds a wonderful way of accomplishing this.
Wonder of wonders! With boundless and incomprehensible love, this tender-hearted Lord offers to comply with his justice, to calm the divine anger, to rescue us from the slavery of the devil and from the flames of hell, and to merit for us eternal happiness.
46. His offer is accepted; a decision is reached and made. Eternal Wisdom, the Son of God, will become man at a suitable time and in determined circumstances. For about four thousand years - from the creation of the world and Adam's sin until the Incarnation of divine Wisdom - Adam and his descendants were subject to death, just as God had decreed. But in view of the Incarnation of the Son of God, they received the graces they needed to obey his commandments and do salutary penance for any they might have transgressed. If they died in the state of grace and in God's friendship, their souls went to Limbo, there to await their Savior and Deliverer who would open the gates of heaven for them.
The time before the Incarnation
47. During the whole time preceding his Incarnation, eternal Wisdom proved in a thousand ways his friendship for men and his great desire to bestow his favors on them and to converse with them. "My delight is to be with the children of men" (Prov. 8:31). He went about seeking those worthy of him (Wisd. 6:16), that is those worthy of his friendship, his precious gifts, his very person. He passed through different nations, making them prophets and friends of God (Wisd. 7:27; cf. 7:14). He it was who instructed all the holy patriarchs, all the friends of God, all the saints and prophets of the old and new testaments (Wisd. 7).
This same Wisdom inspired men of God and spoke by the mouths of the prophets. He directed their ways and enlightened them in their doubts. He upheld them in their weakness and freed them from all harm.
48. This is how the Holy Spirit tells it in the tenth chapter of the Book of Wisdom (Wisd. 10:1-21).
1. It was Wisdom who safeguarded Adam, the first man, created alone to be the father of all men.
2. He rescued him from his sin and gave him power to control and rule over all things.
3. When the sinful Cain in anger withdrew from Wisdom, he perished because through his fury he became the murderer of his brother.
4. When the Deluge flooded the earth, because of him, it was Wisdom again who saved it, piloting the just man Noah in a frail wooden ark.
5. When the nations conspired together to do evil, Wisdom discerned the just man, Abraham, preserved him in innocence before God and kept him resolute in overcoming the pity he felt for his son, Isaac.
6. Wisdom rescued the righteous man, Lot, when he fled from the company of wicked men who perished as fire descended upon the Five Cities.
7. Evidence of their wickedness still remains - a smoking wasteland, plants bearing fruit that never ripen, and a pillar of salt standing as a monument to an unbelieving soul.
8. For those who neglected to see Wisdom were not only kept from knowledge of good, but they also left to mankind a memorial of their folly, and so their crime could never remain hidden.
49.9. But Wisdom delivered those who served him from all evils.
10. When the just man Jacob fled from the wrath of his brother Esau, Wisdom guided him along straight paths and showed him the kingdom of God. God gave him knowledge of holy things, prospered him in his labors and increased the fruits of his work.
11. He stood by him against the greed of defrauders and made him rich.
12. He protected him from his enemies and saved him from seducers. He gave him victory in his arduous struggle so that he might know that Wisdom is mightier than anything.
13. He did not abandon Joseph, the just man, when he was old, but delivered him from the hands of sinners and went down with him into the well.
14. He did not desert him in his chains until he brought him the scepter of royalty and authority over his oppressors. He showed those who had defamed him to be liars and gave him an eternal renown.
15. He liberated a holy people and a blameless race, the Hebrews, from a nation of oppressors.
16. He entered the soul of God's servant, Moses, and withstood fearsome kings with signs and wonders.
17. He gave the holy ones the reward of their labors, led them along a perfect way, and became a shelter for them by day and shed a starry light upon them by night.
18. He brought them across the Red Sea and led them through the deep waters.
19. He submerged their enemies in the sea and gathered his own people up from the depths of the sea. Thus he carried off the spoils of the wicked.
20. They extolled you in their songs, O Lord, and together praised your conquering hand.
21. For Wisdom opened the mouths of the dumb and made the tongues of the babes speak with fluency.
50. In the next chapter of the Book of Wisdom (Wisd. 11) the Holy Spirit describes the various evils from which eternal Wisdom delivered Moses and the Israelites during the time they lived in the desert. To this we may add those who were delivered from great dangers by eternal Wisdom in the Old and New Testaments. Among them were Daniel who was freed from the lions' den, Susanna from the false crime she was accused of, the three young men from the furnace in Babylon, St Peter from prison, St John from the cauldron of boiling oil and numberless martyrs and confessors from the physical torments they were made to suffer and the calumnies which blackened their good name. All these were delivered and healed by eternal Wisdom. "O Lord, those who have pleased you from the beginning were healed by Wisdom (Wisd. 9:19).
Conclusion
51. And now let us proclaim: "A thousand times happy is the man into whose soul Wisdom has entered to have his abode! No matter what battles he has to wage, he will emerge victorious. No matter what dangers threaten him, he will escape unharmed. No matter what sorrows afflict him, he will find joy and consolation. No matter what humiliations are heaped upon him, he will be exalted and glorified in time and throughout eternity."
