Wisdom searches out the glory of the Name like a priceless pearl hidden in the depths of the ocean. The dive for the pearl abandons safe convention at the surface, risking all for the Name. Just as a merchant sells all that he has for the pearl of great price, so wisdom renounces all for the glory of God’s Kingdom (Mt 13:45-46). The Kingdom of glory lies hidden like treasure in the midst, overlooked by addictive dissipation, forgotten by the hardened heart. Pearls are not edible, so a swine mentality pushes past them, treading on them to get at what can be consumed. The Name is easily pushed aside so that its treasure is ignored, generating a life-time of neglect that treads pearls underfoot. But wisdom calls: ‘Come and see! Turn and see the Kingdom of God in the light and glory of the Holy Name, for God is ‘I AM’ unveiling light in glory. God dwells in light unapproachable but we come from God and to God we are returning, from light to light and from glory to glory.’
The quest for the pearl is not like quests for created things because what is sought is ever-present and what is found is what finds. Nearer than near, ‘I AM’ is effulgence of light, glory from glory, radiance of the Father conjoined with the nurturing, nourishing Spirit, bearing witness to the Son in our midst, to wisdom’s love of glory. All pearl quests turn inside out here where God turns outside in. Wisdom suckles seers with hallowing holiness when the Name unveils her mysteries. Prophecy knows that the garment of glory grants adamantine protection, harder than flint, just as prayer knows the eye of wisdom is sharper than diamond, cutting through every obstruction. Wisdom’s yoke is easy and her burden of glory is light. The Name of God is written in every heart but only the wisdom of God can read it, so the quest is not for something new but for an unveiling of awareness ever-present, of presence ever-aware, obvious yet hidden, making all things new. Wisdom discerns this mystery of the Name ‘I AM’ as Christ in glory unveiling the age to come, but never loses sight of glory’s ineffable hiddenness.
Wisdom anoints the hearts of her children with Christ’s oil of gladness, essentially the same hallowing Chrismation that Melchizedek imparted to Israel’s ancient kings and which wisdom today imparts to her priest kings through prophecy, unveiling the Name. This wisdom turns all our quests into this one holy quest, her quest that questions us: who is this who unveils the Name ‘I AM,’ searching out who reveals whom in the midst? The quest of remembrance unveils ‘I AM,’ through ‘I AM,’ in ‘I AM,’ three in one and one in three. The Name of Holy Trinity undoes every apostasy of forgetfulness in the midst.
The true pearl quest is forgotten until the heart is awakened by the Name. The mission of wisdom is to awaken the heart from the sleep of spiritual death. The angels of wisdom are sent to remind the heart so that it turns and sees. Prophecy recalls the heart to God whilst prayer takes to heart what is recalled. Wisdom re-minds the heart by awakening the remembrance of God through God, in God. So what looked like our quest for God turns out to be God’s quest in us for God, revelation of Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit reveals the Son in us, wisdom embracing glory in the midst. The triune mysteries do not subject God to profane inspection but unveil the hallowing Name, concealing God from vain scrutiny. The Name awakens the heart from sleep, raising the dead from death to life, illumining seers and glorifying saints. Baptism in this Name is initiation into this wisdom, wisdom that opens the mysteries of glory as triune revelation. Glory is sealed until wisdom breaks God’s holy seal. But glory remains hidden until revealed with the unsealed signature of God, God’s Holy Name signed with his Sign of the Cross, signifying the glory of God’s ineffable love.
Children of wisdom are children of light, for glory purifies to illumine, and illumines to glorify. All wisdom’s children are taught by the Name, from ‘I AM’ to ‘I AM,’ illumination that communicates the Great Peace. Prophecy names this glory so that prayer realises it, taught by wisdom and the hallowing Name. Great Peace is God’s answer to all quests, God’s call to return to the remembrance of God by turning, union with God, seer with seen. The pearl was the oriental symbol of remembrance much as was the grail in the mediaeval west. Both tell stories of many quests only to turn back into the one and only quest, God’s quest of us, awakening us to God’s remembrance of God in our midst. All quest stories come full circle here in the midst, the Kingdom come with power as light then glory.
The light of ‘I AM’ is uncreated, deifying the illumined. ‘I AM’ is one, inspiring one trust in the hallowing Name, one baptism, one initiation into wisdom. Glory is wisdom’s home-coming, the fulfilment of her personal quest as well as of all our quests for wisdom. Waters of light are consummated when the Spirit of glory glorifies the saints. The Spirit of ‘I AM’ is freedom, release from prisons of pride, liberation of glory through glory. Wisdom restores to glory all that falls short of glory, welcoming home to glory all that was lost. The Spirit of wisdom mothers mysteries of glory in awakened hearts so that the Father of wisdom welcomes home all who are known by Name. One with the wisdom of his Son, glory is unveiled as filial ‘I AM’ in us, imparting Great Peace, completeness summed up as the fulfilment of all quests, completing the quest for the priceless pearl.