[Ant 1]
Wisdom * crieth in the streets: If any man love wisdom, let him come unto me, and he shall find her and when once he hath found her, blessed shall he be if he hold her.

[Versum 1]
V. Let the evening prayer ascend unto thee, O Lord.
R. And let there descend upon us thy mercy.

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the book of Ecclesiasticus
!Sir 1:1-5
1 All wisdom is from the Lord God, and hath been always with him, and is before all time.
2 Who hath numbered the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the days of the world? Who hath measured the height of heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss?
3 Who hath searched out the wisdom of God that goeth before all things?
4 Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting.
5 The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom, and her ways are everlasting commandments.

[Responsory1]
@Tempora/081-0:Responsory1

[Lectio2]
!Sir 1:6-10
6 To whom hath the root of wisdom been revealed, and who hath known her wise counsels?
7 To whom hath the discipline of wisdom been revealed and made manifest? and who hath understood the multiplicity of her steps?
8 There is one most high Creator Almighty, and a powerful king, and greatly to be feared, who sitteth upon his throne, and is the God of dominion.
9 He created her in the Holy Ghost, and saw her, and numbered her, and measured her.
10 And he poured her out upon all his works, and upon all flesh according to his gift, and hath given her to them that love him.

[Responsory2]
@Tempora/081-0:Responsory2

[Lectio3]
!Sir 1:11-16
11 The fear of the Lord is honour, and glory, and gladness, and a crown of joy.
12 The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give joy, and gladness, and length of days.
13 With him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed.
14 The love of God is honourable wisdom.
15 Ana they to whom she shall show herself love her by the sight, and by the knowledge of her great works.
16 The fear of the Lord Is the beginning of wisdom, and was created with the faithful in the womb, it walketh with chosen women, and is known with the just and faithful.

[Responsory3]
@Tempora/081-0:Responsory3

[Lectio4]
From the Book of Moral Reflections on Job, written by Pope St Gregory the Great.
!Bk. i. 10 on Job i.
COME there are who are careless concerning their true life, greedy of the things which pass away, but as to the things which are eternal, either understand them not, or, understanding them, holding them to be but of little moment they feel no sorrow, nor know how to take wise advice and, in forgetfulness of the heavenly possessions which they have lost, they deem themselves (alas, poor wretches) happy in their goods. They lift not up their eyes to the light of truth for which they were created no keen desire ever maketh them to cast a longing look toward the everlasting Fatherland. Leaving alone the chief end for which they were made, they fix their affections upon the exile which they are enduring, instead of upon their home, and make merry in the blindness which they are suffering, as though it were glorious day-light.

[Responsory4]
@Tempora/081-0:Responsory4

[Lectio5]
But, on the other hand, the understandings of the elect, while they apprehend the things which pass away, perceive them to be indeed nothings, and work towards grasping the true end to which they were created, and since nothing outside God satisfieth them, their thought, wearied by the intensity of speculation, findeth rest in the hope for, and the contemplation of, their~
Maker. They are fain to take their place among the citizens above, and each one of them, although still placed in the world as concerns his body, doth yet in heart and mind ascend above the world. They bemoan the hardships of the exile which they are enduring, and rouse themselves by the constant pricking of their love, to look to their Fatherland above. When therefore such an one seeth with grief that by sin he hath lost an eternal inheritance, he findeth this healthy counsel, to reckon but lightly the things of time through which he is passing, and as the riper groweth his wise course that he hath chosen, to let be these perishing things, the deeper groweth his sorrow that he hath not yet attained unto the things which endure.

[Responsory5]
@Tempora/081-0:Responsory5

[Lectio6]
We must also realise that they who are headlong in their courses, feel not sorrow of heart. They that live without thought, who leave themselves recklessly to the guidance of events, escape the weariness of thought. He that ordereth his life by prudent consideration, looketh carefully around him before each thing that he doth, and, like a man, that before advancing on an uncertain way, trieth the ground with his foot, so he taketh thought beforehand, lest some sudden and evil thing should happen to him he considereth whether that which he hath a mind to do is not forbidden to him by caution, whether he be not too hasty about things which were better put off to another season, lest evil should overcome him by open attack upon his lusts, or even good undo him by the in-bringing of vain glory.

[Responsory6]
@Tempora/081-0:Responsory5

[Responsory7]
@Tempora/081-0:Responsory7

[Responsory8]
@Tempora/Pent01-0:Responsory8
