The Word, the Wisdom of god, was made flesh

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On Saturday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to first read and reflect on a passage from the book of the prophet Baruch (3:9-15, 24---4:4) entitled “The salvation of Israel is founded on wisdom”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop.

Saint Peter Chrysologus was a fourth century Bishop of Ravenna, Italy. He was a Doctor of the Church, which means “of golden words”. He is known as the “Doctor of Homilies” for the concise but theologically rich reflections he delivered during his time. His sermons rang like poems, rich with biblical insight and glimpses of ordinary life in a fifth-century urban center. His title, “Chrysologus,” means “golden-tongued” so we know that he had a great impact on those who heard him. During his homilies, he would become so excited and animated that he would find himself at a loss for words.

The opening verses ascribe the Book of the prophet Baruch to the well-known assistant to Jeremiah. It is a collection of four very different compositions, ending with a work entitled “The Letter of Jeremiah,” which circulated separately in major manuscripts of the Greek tradition. The original language may have been Hebrew, but only the Greek and other versions have been preserved. The fictional setting is Babylon, where Baruch reads his scroll to King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) and the exiles; they react by sending gifts and the scroll to Jerusalem, presumably by the hand of Baruch. No certain date can be given for the book, but it may have been edited in final form during the last two centuries B.C. The work attempts to explain the trauma of the exile in terms of a Deuteronomic cycle: sin (of Israel), punishment, repentance, and return.