Word to the Wise
Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - Tuesday in the 32th Week in Ordinary Time
[Wis 2:23—3:9 and Luke 17:7-10]"But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us utter destruction. But they are in peace. For if before humans, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality." [Wisdom]
NOVEMBER 10, ST. LEO THE GREAT, pope
These words from the Book of Wisdom are familiar to me if for no other reason than that they are the most popular choice for the first scripture at a funeral Mass. I have heard them over and over again and they still comfort me. Our Christian belief in an afterlife called heaven or hell is relatively recent, biblically speaking, since it is based on our belief in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Nevertheless there were developments in Jewish faith prior to that which appear in one of the books of the Maccabees and here in the Book of Wisdom. For the most part, Jewish faith included a kind of shadow world called Sheol to which the dead were consigned. Vivid scenes like the one in Ezekiel 37 - the "dry bones" vision - referred to the restoration of a nation, and not to individual resurrection.
The Book of Wisdom offers us a vision that seems to describe something like the experiences some people report that are called "near death experiences." "Peace" is a prominent word in descriptions of those experiences. If one reads the entire passage for today, however, one can note that it recognizes the need for a life lived with God before death, even if that life is subject to human failings. This touches on our need for God's grace and mercy. The last words today are as comforting as the beginning: Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love; because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect. AMEN
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