Nov. 10/2002 - 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

For those who study the Old Testament or who are familiar with the books of the Old Testament, Wisdom literature is not a new topic.  This Sunday we begin with a passage from the book of Wisdom. The term Wisdom in the biblical literature takes on a special meaning.  In the 10th Century BC during the time of David and his son Solomon a different way of looking at the world was put into the biblical writings. Israel claimed it met God through human experience not in addition to it.  A new question was posed: “ What kind of role does God play in every day life?”. The answers to that question did not concern it self with, “salvation history” as did the usual intent of the sacred writings.

Everyone in every culture must struggle with the questions of life. The writings now took on a universal character. Even today people from all cultures understand the Wisdom sayings easier than the Jewish or Christian theology found in the rest of the bible.

The Israelites (Jews) came to believe that their God was the great Creator-God and that their was some kind of order in nature. Once they understood this order they could live by it and the result would be success and peace. The process of doing this was called wisdom.

This kind of development is most evident in the book of proverbs but is also the background for the other Wisdom books: Job, and Ecclesiastes.

As I ponder the biblical meaning of Wisdom I want to see how wisdom has meaning for our world. One writer took the gospel an applied wisdom in this fashion.

The Five young (foolish) girls forget and others didn’t and the forgetful ones end up in the dark and cold.

We might think of the oil as faith which each person has to develop for themselves and cannot divide it with another. “The lamps are the “seeing” of  the light by which one waits watchfully for the coming of the bridegroom.  The bridegroom might be Jesus whose coming seems slow and delayed.  So then, perhaps the lighted lamps is faith leading to hope and hope is the watchfulness and the staying awake through the darkness of night.”

When I hear of staying awake I think of the young people who are night owls and my be up through the night with all sorts of activities, even marathon fundraisers.

It may not fit totally when we bring an idea from another time and era but certainly the young people are people who seek wisdom not only in the academic classroom.

A speaker at the vocations conference said the young people are saying, “We don’t just want to be converted, we want people to walk with us and to discern their journey of faith and to connect it to the mission of the church in the world. We want to see you (adults – priests, sisters, brothers all people) as living, joyful witnesses.”

That’s a common search for Wisdom founded on faith in the Lord.

Fr. Bruce Schute