A Mother's Wisdom: The Virgin Mary in the Old Testament Wisdom Literature

Part IV: Closing Remarks

Chapter 10: What Does It All Mean?

Mary & the Church

Now, we must ask what the ramifications of this study are. It has been established that it is impossible to attribute every verse of the wisdom literature to the Trinity without resorting to heresy. According to Bouyer, "The only possible explanation of these problematical indications lies in the role of Our Lady and the Church, essentially a role of created beings, but of one who brings to perfection the divine image God willed to stamp on the nothingness from which they came." ¹ All of salvation history is a story of the loving initiative of God and the response of mankind to that Love. The feminine personification of Wisdom, then, becomes a microcosm of this interplay between divinity and humanity, an interplay perfectly fulfilled in the person of the God-man, Jesus Christ. But this is also reflected in Christ's relationship with the Church, as well as the intimate relationship between a divine person and His human Mother who is the preeminent type of that Church: between Jesus and Mary. Indeed, "...the Church sees Our Lady as the predestinated par excellence...his final realization in the new creature, the Church of the end of time, the entire assembly of the predestined." ²This connection is also clear in that Mary is a type of the Church as "Bride of Christ," a type which is foreshadowed frequently in the Old Testament as well (see Isa. 54:5; Hos. 2:19-20; 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7, 21:2,9, 22:17). One example of this typology is in Wisdom 8:2, in which Solomon desires to take Wisdom as His Bride. Mary, then, as a type of the Church, is also the epitome of the eschatological Bride of Christ, who is "without spot or wrinkle...holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27; see also Song. 3:6). Mary is the final realization of the sanctified Church, present in a concrete historical person. ³

The Bride of Christ

When one first hears these ideas, it can be hard to reconcile how Mary can be both the Mother and spiritual Bride of Christ. ⁴ It is easier to understand if we return to the "woman" terminology discussed in the rhetorical section. The central theme is that Mary has a deeply intimate relationship with Christ. She is the woman in Jesus' life because "it is not good that man should be alone," not even the God-Man. Even Christ Himself in his human masculinity "needs" (again by design not absolute necessity) Mary in order to have psychological and affective maturity as a man. ⁵Mary can also be called the "sister" of Christ because, as noted in the previous section, "Whoever does the will of God is my brother, sister, and mother" (Mark 3:35). This can also be seen in Song of Songs 4:9: "You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride" (see also Song. 4:10, 12). The point made with Solomon and his bride, as with Jesus and Mary, is that there is a profound spiritual closeness of heart. Mary is, in a sense, everything to Jesus in that she embodies the perfection of all creation, of the Church, and of everything that exists outside the Godhead. ⁶Therefore, as Christ walks the road to Calvary, He already sees the fruits of His sacrificial Redemption effective in Mary as they will be in the Church. Christ, the ultimate Bridegroom, lays down his life for His Bride, the Church. But, Christ sees the Church through Mary, as she had already received the graces from the Cross before the Crucifixion occurred in history (at the very moment of her conception), and was never without that divine favor. She was indeed always "full of grace" (Luke 1:28). Therefore, before Christ dies on the Cross in order to make His Bride "holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27), He already possesses a concretely sinless Bride: a humble and faithful disciple named Mary. John the Baptist reminds us of this when he says, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom" (John 3:29). ⁷ As Christ had not yet sanctified His Bride the Church, this passage must refer to Mary who was preserved from sin at her Immaculate Conception. This plurality of ways to articulate the close relationship Jesus has with Mary is also reflected in the unique relationship which each Person of the Trinity has with Mary. Scott Hahn, in explaining Isaiah 62:4-5, brings all these themes together:

There's a lot suggested in those two verses: Mary's virginal motherhood, her miraculous conception, and her mystical marriage to God, who is at once her Father, her Spouse, and her Son. The mystery of the divine maternity runs deep, because the mystery of the Trinity runs still deeper. ⁸

Bouyer also ties all of these complex realities into a cohesive whole by highlighting Mary's unique relationship to both Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the Persons of the Trinity most closely associated with the wisdom literature:

What is there, then, which could correspond to this image of a being apparently inseparable from God in Himself, bearing, undoubtedly, a quite special relation both to the Son and the Spirit, yet inseparable, too, from a certain reference to creation, under the aspect of the chosen one, the Elect destined to become the Spouse of the Lord? In this connection, the mind turns naturally to the Virgin Mary. ⁹

Based on all these ideas, as well as the various valid interpretations of the wisdom literature, it becomes apparent that the divine attributes of Wisdom must apply to God, and the created elements of Wisdom must be seen in Mary and the Church. Lady Wisdom, then, encompasses Creation and Redemption in a personified unity. If Jesus Christ is Uncreated Wisdom, then Mary must be the created Throne of Wisdom; If Jesus Christ is the Divine Word, then Mary is the humble and obedient answer; If Christ has merited the grace which we receive, then Mary is the fruitful response to that grace. John Paul II communicates this same idea in paragraph 36 of Redemptoris Mater:

Mary is the first to share in this new revelation...and...in this new "self-giving" of God...She is thus aware that concentrated within herself as the Mother of Christ is the whole salvific economy, in which "from age to age" is manifested He who, as the God of the Covenant, "remembers his mercy."

Therefore, Mary's uniquely intimate, concrete, and fruitful relationship with the Trinity further supports her association with the created elements of Lady Wisdom in the midst of the many divine qualities also ascribed to this somewhat elusive biblical figure.

The Beloved Disciple

While Mary perfectly reflects the faithful and holy Church in her responsiveness to the loving action of God, our lives, too, are meant to reflect the glorious spiritual fruitfulness of Mary. For if Mary is to be an example of the prayerful receptivity and gracious fruitfulness of the Church, then we must look to her in order to know the depth of what it means to do the Lord's will and to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. In our own lives, we must sit at the "school of Mary" to learn how to better contemplate the life of Christ from His Mother who "kept all these things in her heart." ¹⁰What better example of allowing Mary to show us her reflections on Christ than in the Rosary, which is an extended meditation on all the central events of Christ's life and work? Like Solomon, we, too, must prefer Wisdom to health, beauty, wealth, influence, and power. We must choose to enter into a covenantal relationship with Wisdom and Truth, for better or worse, wherever the path may lead. ¹¹We must have an unwavering devotion to our Blessed Mother, that she might help us to be "friends of God," to teach us to trust in God's ways instead of in our own. Certainly, if we truly strive to be "those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus," then surely we must be the children of Mary (Rev. 12:17). Our very hearts and lives, after Mary's example, must be a throne which exalts the name of Jesus in the world. All our actions and decisions must be an interior fiat: marked by the humble obedience of Mary, even down the long road which leads to the Cross. We, indeed, must journey to the foot of the Cross and become the "beloved disciple" to whom Jesus entrusted His Mother in John 19:27 when He said, "Behold your mother!" Directly following this exhortation, it says, "And from that hour the disciple took her into his home." We, who are all "beloved disciples" of Jesus, must invite Mary into the "home" of the inner sanctuary of our souls that she may teach us how to love Her Son as deeply as she does. For, just as she told the servants at Cana, she says also to each one of us: "Do whatever He tells you" (John 2:5). We, too, must "keep" the Word, Jesus Christ, as such an intimate part of our daily meditation, reflection, and contemplation, that we, too, might bring the fruit of Jesus Christ into a world which so desperately needs His love and mercy.

Conclusion:

The title "Mary, Seat of Wisdom" as well as the wisdom books' relationship to Mary seems obscure, and as such is overlooked by many Catholics. This title is not emphasized as much for the simple fact that its meaning is not as plainly obvious as perhaps the titles "Help of Christians" or "Queen of Peace" might be. And yet, it provides a window to a tremendous goldmine of Scripture and Tradition which sheds light on many aspects of contemporary Mariology. Throughout this treatise, we have seen various ways in which the Blessed Mother can be called "Seat of Wisdom": through her connection to Jesus Christ, Wisdom Incarnate; as the Mother who leads and teaches her children in the ways of wisdom; and in her fulfillment of and cooperation with God's wise and loving plan to send His Son into the world for us. Mary is indeed the central "woman" of Scripture found battling Satan at the bookends of all of Salvation History. She is the human person most intimately related to the Trinity: the masterpiece of creation, and the epitome of the faithful Bride of Christ. Furthermore, this essay has shown how the widespread application of the wisdom literature to Mary throughout Church Tradition emphatically supports Mary's title Sedes Sapientiae. In addition, the fact that every major Marian doctrine and dogma is found implicitly within the wisdom texts attests to this thesis' alignment with authentic biblical scholarship. To this end, it has also been proved that the Marian interpretation of wisdom literature is a necessary consequence of safeguarding the Incarnation of Christ. This fact categorically proves that calling Mary the "Seat of Wisdom" because of her relationship to the wisdom literature ultimately exalts Christ much more than it honors Mary, as reflected by the powerful image of the Three Magi worshiping our Lord while He rests on His Mother's lap. This is only fitting in that Jesus Christ must be the end and focus of all other devotions, "else they are false and delusive." ¹² This is also completely in keeping with the humility of Our Lady, who ever-prefers to remain in background worshiping her Son along with us than to draw attention to herself (a fact proven by the relatively few references to Mary in the New Testament). Through exploring Wisdom 7 as a prototype of all wisdom literature in the context of Church Tradition, it becomes overwhelmingly clear that the wisdom texts not only refer to Mary, but prove that Mary is the icon of created Wisdom. In a word, the feminine personification of Wisdom finds its proper home in the heart & life of Mary, and the title "Seat of Wisdom" is well-deserved. I leave you with the concluding words of John Paul II's Fides et Ratio:

May Mary, Seat of Wisdom, be a sure haven for all who devote their lives to the search for wisdom. May their journey into wisdom, sure and final goal of all true knowing, be freed of every hindrance by the intercession of the one who, in giving birth to the Truth and treasuring it in her heart, has shared it forever with all the world. ¹³

Mary, Seat of Wisdom: Pray for us!