“‘And she [Wisdom] has furnished her table’ (Prv 9:2) . . . refers to his [Christ’s] honored and undefiled body and blood, which day by day are administered and offered sacrificially at the spiritual divine table, as a memorial of that first and ever-memorable table of the spiritual divine supper” — Hippolytus
In the Wisdom literature of ancient Israel, “Lady Wisdom” contrasts with “Dame Folly.” In Proverbs 9, Lady Wisdom prepares a sumptuous feast and sends her servants out to invite guests in from the streets. Banquets, in antiquity, were the places where body and soul were nourished: People were fed and wisdom was shared. Lady Wisdom says, “Come, eat of my food, / and drink of the wine I have mixed! / Forsake foolishness that you may live; / advance in the way of understanding” (Prv 9:5-6). Christ is Divine Wisdom. He invites us to his banquet to share in his wisdom and to be refreshed. To commune in the Eucharist is to begin to live by a higher wisdom, to open the door to the Holy Spirit.
LET US PRAY
Lord Jesus, I have heard your invitation to dine at your banquet. May I accept it and enter in! May I courageously reject the folly of the world and instead always live guided by your wisdom. Amen.
PRAYER TO THE EUCHARIST
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption. Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
-Collect for the Feast of Corpus Christi, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas