Wisdom 9: 13-18.
The homily for the day could try to tie the OT with the Gospel - the OT as a way for discerning what is God's will for us today, and then by using the Gospel to speak about the cost of discipleship. But beware - the Gospel is one of the "harsh" texts
Wisdom 9 is known as the Prayer of Solomon; it is useful to compare this with other texts of the same prayer, as if you were comparing the Synoptic Gospels. Most of us will remember the student days when we have parallel texts of the first three Gospels, and compared each of the pericopae as written, noting all the subtle changes and trying to remember them for the "Schools" exams at Oxford - "Schools" were the final Honors exams at Oxford, so called because they were held at the Examination Schools Hall. My teacher for NT was G.B. Caird, and I can still hear him lecturing on the "Kingdom of God".
The parallel texts are for Solomon's prayer are: 1 Kings 3: 6-9, and 2 Chronicles 1 as parts. Note that in Chronicles it is not longer a dream, while in Wisdom it more a philosophical understanding about the nature of Wisdom and not confined to the quality needed to rule Israel. Many themes are reworked within the Old Testament, and engaged in Rabbinic Judaism, though not in the New Testament.
The Book of Wisdom's version of the Prayer of Solomon is contained in chapter 9: 1-18, and this can be divided into three stanza:
1) vv.1-6, wherein the Creator is asked to give Solomon wisdom to rule as he is weak and a mere mortal, thereby acknowledging that God is not only the Creator but is also directly involved in ruling Israel, thereby asserting that it was God who really ruled, and now as this is the time that Israel has no King in the Post-Exilic period, it does not really matter as God was always in control and not just the King.
2) vv.7-12 God has sent Wisdom to assist Solomon to rule so that with her help he may rule justly. While the Kingship may have gone, not so Wisdom who is now with the present rulers.
3) vv.13-18 Solomon asserts that no mortal can discern the will of God because of our weakness.
And if we are unable to discern earthly happenings, what hope is there for us to understand the heavenly matters, assuming of course that we want to. It is Wisdom which brings us whatever understanding we have. To Christians that Wisdom comes from meditating on the Word of God, thereby giving us good reason to read and listen to Scripture. (Comments to Mac at tmckenna@netconnect.com.au)