A reading from the Book of Wisdom 7:22b–8:1

In Wisdom is a spirit/ intelligent, holy, unique,/ Manifold, subtle, agile,/ clear, unstained, certain,/ Not baneful, ­loving the good, keen,/ unhampered, beneficent, kindly,/ Firm, secure, tranquil,/ all-powerful, all-seeing,/ And pervading all spirits,/ though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle./ For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion,/ and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity./ For she is an aura of the might of God/ and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty;/ therefore nought that is sullied enters into her./ For she is the refulgence of eternal light,/ the spotless mirror of the power of God,/ the image of his goodness./ And she, who is one, can do all things,/ and renews everything while herself perduring;/ And passing into holy souls from age to age,/ she produces friends of God and prophets./ For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom./ For she is fairer than the sun/ and surpasses every constellation of the stars./ Compared to light, she takes precedence;/ for that, ­indeed, night supplants,/ but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.

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A reading from the Book of Wisdom 6:1-11

Hear, O kings, and understand;/ learn, you magistrates of the earth’s expanse!/ Hearken, you who are in power over the multitude/ and lord it over throngs of peoples!/ Because authority was given you by the Lord/ and sovereignty by the Most High,/ who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels./ Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly,/ and did not keep the law,/ nor walk according to the will of God,/ Terribly and swiftly shall he come against you,/ because judgment is stern for the exalted—/ For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy/ but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test./ For the Lord of all shows no partiality,/ nor does he fear greatness,/ Because he himself made the great as well as the small,/ and he provides for all alike;/ but for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends./ To you, therefore, O princes, are my words addressed/ that you may learn wisdom and that you may not sin./ For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy,/ and those learned in them will have ready a response./ Desire therefore my words;/ long for them and you shall be instructed.

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A reading from the Book of Wisdom 1:1-7

Love justice, you who judge the earth;/ think of the Lord in goodness,/ and seek him in integrity of heart;/ Because he is found by those who test him not,/ and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him./ For perverse counsels separate a man from God,/ and his power, put to the proof, rebukes the foolhardy;/ Because into a soul that plots evil, wisdom enters not,/ nor dwells she in a body under debt of sin./ For the holy Spirit of discipline flees deceit/ and withdraws from senseless counsels;/ and when injustice occurs it is rebuked./ For wisdom is a kindly spirit,/ yet she acquits not the blasphemer of his guilty lips;/ Because God is the witness of his inmost self/ and the sure observer of his heart/ and the listener to his tongue./ For the Spirit of the Lord fills the world,/ is all-embracing, and knows what man says.

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