Today's PAYG used this passage from The Wisdom of Solomon (part of the aprocrypha) as a basis for thinking, at least in part, about hope and despair. It seemed to have some resonance with what I have pondering these past few weeks:
Wisdom 2:23 - 3:9
for God created us for incorruption,
and made us in the image of his own eternity,
but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his company experience it.
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster,
and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.
In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble.
They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
andthe Lord will reign over them forever.
Those who trust in him will understand truth,
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,
and he watchesover his elect.
Reading this is a valuable reminder that by ignoring the deuter-canonical and apocryphal books, we miss the scriptural bases for ideas we both accept and reject.
This passage reads somewhat differently in context (it starts half way through a sentence) but even so, as it stands, it is a great assurance of hope.