The conclusion to the Book of Proverbs is an acrostic poem, with each successive line going down through the alphabet in praise of a “worthy wife” (we only get a few selections of the whole piece at Mass). While the ostensible marital advice does have value, in fact the text personifies wisdom as a virtuous woman, and this portion describes her activity in its summative finale. A few of the skipped parts extol her industrious nature, using the image of the garments she makes as attestation of her prudent preparations for the future: “She is not concerned for her household when it snows— all her charges are doubly clothed. She makes her own coverlets… She is clothed with strength and dignity, and laughs at the days to come.” This obviously takes hard work in advance: “She obtains wool and flax and works with loving hands. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle.” Again, some missing verses emphasize her tireless toil: “She rises while it is still night… her lamp is never extinguished at night… and does not eat the bread of idleness.”
That steady discipline much better provides for the family than the ephemeral qualities the world esteems: “Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting.” “Charm” translates the word for “favor/grace,” which along with “beauty,” generally get reckoned as good things in Scripture. But they are meant to originate from God. The implication is that machinating merely human foundations to divine blessings is all “deceptive” and “fleeting.” These same terms appear elsewhere in the Bible, the former describing masquerading liars (especially in Jeremiah) and the latter indicating empty vanity (particularly in Ecclesiastes). Instead, “the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised,” because spiritual excellence remains forever. The promise that she will bring “good, and not evil” literally means “profit, and not loss,” employing business vocabulary that further accentuates her skills’ rarity. Of course, it refers in this extended analogy to graces that are to come. The Psalmist pledges that “you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; blessed shall you be, and favored. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; Your children like olive plants around your table.” In a culture where bad harvests meant starvation, guarantees of all that effort paying off meant the difference between life and death.
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Another feminine metaphor is provided through St. Paul: the suddenness of final trials coming “like labor pains upon a pregnant woman.” We all “know very well” that challenges await us, especially considering the fact that “the day of the Lord will come,” but we are never sure when they will strike. We do know that we “will not escape.” The restful quiet of nighttime is again connected to lazy inactivity: “We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.” “Sober” here means “self-controlled,” an idiom that is only employed figuratively in the New Testament, always in association with end time preparations.
The famous Parable of the Talents revisits the economic theme, extolling prudent provision through diligent effort. Graces are distributed “to each according to his ability,” a good reminder that everyone gets just what God knows we can manage. But the “wicked, lazy… useless servant” who takes the easy route by leaving the marketplace and instead hiding the money in a cold, dark hole in the dirt shows us a counterexample of the Lord’s expectations. Fascinatingly, the excuse he gives seems legitimate: “Master… out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.” The Psalm just reminded us that “Blessed are you who fear the LORD,” like the wise wife of Proverbs, but qualifies, “who walk in his ways!” More than just the interior disposition of respect for God, we also need to carry out His Will.
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The Church offers us all these Biblical passages in the context of the close of the liturgical year, in preparation for Advent. The themes of the end of time have us contemplate our mortality and the productiveness of the time we have spent and the purpose of what time we have left. Honoring the Lord with our every undertaking will bear certain fruit, and we can experience at last the ultimate reward of our labors: “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”