The Wisdom of Kings

Cardinal Timothy Dolan

At Donald Trump's inauguration, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York read from the book of Wisdom.  I didn't pay much attention to the prayer, then, at the inauguration; I thought it a lazy prayer; he's just quoting scripture.  But this morning as I read Christianity Today's article on Trump's Inaugural Bible Reading Is Not Your Bible, I've been meditating on Dolan's prayer.

I've spent most of the time trying to find the verse.  CT said it was 1 Kings 3.  No way.  Then upon googling I read it was chapter 9.  That was an even more remote parallel.  Finally, it occurred to me to search for Dolan's prayer and came to the USCCB website.  It's Wisdom Chapter 9.

This is a famous prayer.  It's known as Solomon's prayer.  I was confused by the Protestant reference to 1 Kings.  I was wrong.  It is a very appropriate prayer to pray for our president.