A Sure Knowledge of the Oaths

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Wisdom 18:6-9

The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers,

 that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith,

 they might have courage.

 Your people awaited the salvation of the just

 and the destruction of their foes.

 For when you punished our adversaries,

 in this you glorified us whom you had summoned.

 For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice

 and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution.

The Book of Wisdom is one of the last Old Testament books to be written, just a few centuries before Jesus’ birth. Speaking in the voice of the great philosopher-king Solomon, it presents Jewish piety and theology wedded to Greek philosophy, a marriage that made it a favorite of many early Church Fathers living in a Hellenistic world. The first nine chapters exhort people of power to love wisdom and righteousness to gain eternal life. The final ten chapters describe divine Wisdom’s role throughout salvation history, focusing almost exclusively on the plagues during the Exodus. This reading comes almost at the very end of the book, commenting on the Passover and the final plague: the death of the firstborn son. 

Wisdom points out that the very same thing the Lord used to punish the Egyptians he also used to glorify Israel, only in their case a lamb died in place of each firstborn son. It may not seem obvious, but this same dynamic plays out today. Like the ancient Egyptians, modern spiritual Egyptians put their faith in every manner of false god, be it money, crystals, fitness, etc., etc., etc. Like the ancient Israelites, modern spiritual children of the Lord have a “sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith.” The oaths refer to the covenants, the precursors of our sacraments. We ought to have a sure knowledge of the sacraments in which we put our faith so that we can experience blessings and grace in the very things that often plague modern man. 

People carry so much guilt, but we can face our guilt and allow it to be taken away in the sacrament of Confession. People are just so busy, but we can busy ourselves by scheduling the sacrifice of the Mass and time spent with the sacrament of the Eucharist into our daily lives. Marriages are stressed, but we can experience grace in sacramental marriage. People are sick, but we can give immense value to the experience in sacramental anointing. The very things that can feel like a punishment can turn out for our glory if we can recognize Jesus Christ himself coming to us in his sacraments.