Today's first reading from Ecclesiasticus is of a different genre. It would be naive to think that to the writer this is a literal scientific recounting of creation; this is a poem. I think that such works are extremely important to be included into the canon. Poetry, like myth, has the ability to point to truth beyond itself. Here we read of a poet's spiritual ecstasy in his description of various entities in creation that culminates in: "We could say more but could never say enough; let the final word be: 'He is the all.'"
The poet is a prophet in this reading. He/She is pointing to creation and telling us to behold its beauty for there you will encounter God. This is something that I think is overlooked in our culture. Beyond the buzz and noise of our advertisements and media we often pass over nature, seeing nature as mere mechanics. Because of science we know what the sun is and why it is so hot; we know why the moon has its cycles; we know what causes a rainbow, and so they become mundane to us. Like an imam's call to prayer; the poet calls us to have a sense of wonder, to look beyond the mere mechanics of natural phenomenon and to see greatness. We are called into an ecstasy; to look around and see, if for a moment, a grand immensity and design that is far beyond our comprehension. From the array of lines on a leaf to the transitioning shapes of clouds, the prophetic poet reminds us how inexplicably wonderful it all is, and from this a spiritual well-spring of thanksgiving and grace that reminds us in the grand scheme of it all we are nothing compared to the Universe, compared to the One who is "all," and the All is so very good.
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