22 “The Lord brought me [Wisdom] forth as the first of his works,[c][d]
before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
Meditation
From the writings of Fr. Leonardo Boff
The fact that every being is formed differently from me also lays an ethical obligation on me. Only human beings can bless this otherness, live freely with it, or wickedly destroy it. This is what grounds our ethical responsibility. The environment has its rights, and there is such a thing as ecological justice. Everything has the right to continue to exist, within the ecological balance. This right produces a corresponding duty in human beings to preserve and defend the existence of every being in creation. Today we call this the dignity of the earth (dignitas terrae), seen as a whole.
We also have to stress the reciprocity and complementarity existing between all human beings. Ecological balance supposes that beings are reciprocal among themselves and complement one another in the whole. No being — above all no human being — is sufficient unto itself. We have need of one another. The proto-primary act of human culture, according to respected biologists and anthropologists, would not have been using tools to assure individual subsistence, but rather sharing food prepared by proto-hominids in a gesture of forming a community. We are diverse in being able to exchange our goods and enter into communion with others. We are diverse in order to be able to be united.
Finally, in the light of these reflections, it is an urgent requirement that we should understand the demands of a social ecology. Social ecology studies human historico-social systems in interaction with environmental systems. Human history is inseparable from that of our environment, and from the type of relationships that we have interwoven with it, in a dynamic interplay of mutual involvement.
Musical Selection
Morning light on water Clear and clean Time slows down here with you By the stream (Ah-ah-ah)
Like the water finding its way No need to fight, no need to say Just breathe and stay
Let it flow through me Like the stream knows where to be Let it flow through me (Through me, through me)
Stones worn smooth by time Nature's art Teaching me to leave behind What's in my heart (Ooh-ooh)
There's a wisdom in the way The water moves from day to day Just breathe and stay
Rolling, falling Ancient calling Voice of the mountain Clear and free (La-la-la, la-la-la)
Hand in cool water Learning to be Simple and true like you
Prayer
Fountain of wisdom,
by your word you set the universe in space,
and with your hands you molded us in your image.
Everywhere we see signs of your loving care.
Guide us always into your ways,
that in your wisdom we may find life abundant,
and live forever in the splendor of your glory;
through Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. Amen.(BCW)
