Have mercy, O Lord, on the people called by your name, on Israel, whom you have named your firstborn, 

Have pity on the city of your sanctuary, Jerusalem, the place of your dwelling. 

Fill Zion with your majesty, and your temple with your glory. 

Bear witness to those whom you created in the beginning, and fulfil the prophecies spoken in your name. 

Reward those who wait for you and let your prophets be found trustworthy. 

Hear, O Lord, the prayer of your servants, according to your goodwill towards your people,

and all who are on the earth will know that you are the Lord, the God of the ages.

 

A wise person instructs his own people, and the fruits of his good sense will endure. 

A wise person will have praise heaped upon him, and all who see him will call him happy. 

The days of a person’s life are numbered, but the days of Israel are without number. 

One who is wise among his people will inherit honour, and his name will live for ever.

 

My child, when you are ill, do not delay, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. 

Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly, and cleanse your heart from all sin.

 

 

Scripture says: I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise, and condemn the intelligence of the intelligent. True wisdom will destroy the false; and although preaching about the cross is foolishness, yet Paul speaks wisdom among the mature. Not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, who pass away; but he speaks the wisdom of God which was hidden in a mystery, and which God predestined from the beginning. The wisdom of God is Christ. For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This wisdom was hidden in a mystery, in which all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge were hidden, and he who was hidden in the mystery was predestined from the beginning. He was predestined and prefigured in the Law and the Prophets. That is why the Prophets were also called seers: for they saw him whom the rest did not see. Abraham saw his day and rejoiced. The heavens were opened to Ezekiel on behalf of a sinful people. Open my eyes, said David, so that 1 may gaze at the wonders of your law. For the law is spiritual and needs to be revealed to be understood, and so that we may contemplate the glory of God when his face is revealed.

 

In the Apocalypse there is shown a book sealed with seven seals. If you give it to a literate man to read, he will tell you: I cannot, because it is sealed. How many people today think they are literate, and are in possession of a sealed book which they cannot open unless he unlocks it who holds the key of David, and when he opens it no one can shut it, and when he shuts it no one can open it.

 

In the Acts of the Apostles there is a holy eunuch who was reading Isaiah, and when Philip asked him: Do you really understand what you are reading? he answered: How can I without a teacher? To speak of myself for a moment, I am neither holier nor more zealous than that eunuch, who came to the temple from Ethiopia, that is, from the ends of the earth, setting out from the royal palace. He loved the law and divine knowledge so much that even while sitting in his chariot he read the sacred writings. And yet all the time that he was holding the book, ruminating on the Lord's words, reading them fluently and out loud, he did not know whom he was unwittingly revering in the book. Then Philip came and showed him Jesus, who lay enclosed in the text in secret. The marvellous power of a teacher! In that same hour the eunuch believed, was baptized, was faithful and holy, and turned from a pupil into a master.

 

I have touched briefly on these matters, to make you understand that you cannot enter upon the holy Scriptures without someone to go before you and show you the way. I beg you, dearest brother, to live in the midst of these things, meditate on them, know nothing else, look for nothing – does that not seem to you to be a dwelling-place in the heavenly kingdom already here on earth? (St. Jerome)

 

 

 

 

 

God of salvation,

we stand before you on holy ground,

for your name is glorified

and your mercy revealed

wherever your mighty deeds are remembered.

Since you are holy and forbearing,

turn us from every rash and shallow judgement

to seek the ways of repentance.

We ask this through Christ, our deliverance and hope,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

holy and mighty God for ever and ever. Amen.