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Wisdom,
Book of - Last of the seven sapiental books of
the Old Testament, written in Greek by a Jew of Alexandria, ca. 100
B.C.; it is called deuterocanonical because it was not included in
the Jewish canon of the Bible. In Syriac, it is called “The Book of
the Great Wisdom of Solomon”; thus, the author presumes to speak in
the name of Solomon, though he appears to address those Jews so
enamored of Greek science and philosophy that they were tempted to
abandon the ancient practices of their religion from the time of
Solomon. Absent from earlier Jewish thought, but important for
Christian theology, are these tenets of the book of Wisdom: God can
be naturally known to exist by pondering the origin of the universe;
the human soul is immortal and survives the death of the body; and
with God there is divine wisdom, through which He made the
universe. The author takes a transcendental view of the world. The
first wisdom is in God; human beings participate in wisdom; and the
first manifestation of wisdom is their recognition of God.
Will of God
- In spiritual theology the manifest designs of God for a
person’s whole life or for any part of that life, which the person
is to accept though not naturally appealing, or surrender though
naturally desirable, or do whether he or she likes it or not. The
will of God can be known to some extent by the light of natural
reason, more fully and with greater demands on human generosity
through revelation, and most clearly from the teachings of the
Church that Christ founded precisely to lead the human race to its
final destiny. Moreover, frequent prayer for divine guidance, daily
reflection on one’s moral conduct, and when necessary the counsel of
a prudent adviser are part of God’s ordinary providence in showing
his will to those who seriously want to serve him as they should.
Will -
The power of the human soul, or of a spiritual being, which tends
toward a good or away from an evil recognized by the intellect. It
is basically a rational appetite with several functions, namely the
ability to intend, choose, desire, hope, consent, hate, love, and
enjoy.
Words of Absolution
-
The essential words pronounced by a priest when he absolves a
penitent in the sacrament of penance, namely, “I absolve you from
your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit.”
Words of
Institution -
The words of Christ at the Last Supper, recorded by the synoptic
Gospels (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-21); and St.
Paul (I Corinthians 11:23-29). Their essential features are: 1.
Christ separately consecrated bread and wine; 2. over the bread he
said “This is my body” and over the wine “This is the chalice of my
blood”; 3. the elements of bread and wine were thus changed into the
living Christ; 4. he empowered the Apostles and their successors to
perform the same consecrating action; 5. he bade his followers to
partake of the Eucharist; 6. at the Last Supper, Christ offered his
life to the Heavenly Father, but the actual death resulting from the
sacrifice was to take place on the following day on Calvary.
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