Wisdom is what we speak in obedience to God's urging.

Thursday, 11/10/11

Our first reading today is from Chapter Seven of the Book of Wisdom. It describes  Wisdom so beautifully that we could call this the core passage in the Book of Wisdom.

Some writers identify Wisdom in this book as being Christ, others as being the Holy Spirit. I prefer to sidestep that dispute. For me, Wisdom here represents the urges of God in our souls. Or perhaps Wisdom is what we declare in obedience to God urging us to speak the truth. Wisdom is also here described  as what happens to you if you are obedient to the urges. You will become holy, unique, intelligent, subtle, agile, tranquil, kindly.  

Today’s reading speaks of what is accomplished through Wisdom: “Passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets. She is fairer than the sun.”

So, she produces  prophets. Let’s stay with that for a moment. Lets look into the way that Wisdom produces prophets. We could start with the Hebrew word for a prophet. It is nabi. Which was what a Jewish child would call his or her mouth. The Bible saw a prophet as one who let God use his mouth to speak the truth.

Prophets are not just relics of the Old Testament. In our Catholic baptismal rite that follows on the pouring the water, the priest says that we have been baptized into Christ. By reason of our being identified with him, we also share in his priestly and prophetic roles. He confers those two sacred offices by anointing us with the oil of Chrism. That anointing equips each of us to lend his or her mouth to God for  announcing God’s truth.