I’d like to finish up the reflection on Wisdom 5:6-16. Thistledown, foam, and smoke: that’s what the best hope of sinners is:
Yes, the hope of the wicked
is like thistledown borne on the wind,
and like fine, tempest-driven foam;
Like smoke scattered by the wind,
and like the passing memory of the nomad camping for a single day.
But the just live forever,
and in the LORD is their recompense,
and the thought of them is with the Most High.
Therefore shall they receive the splendid crown,
the beauteous diadem, from the hand of the LORD-
For he shall shelter them with his right hand,
and protect them with his arm.
And the promise to the just is similar to that in the frequent funeral reading from Wisdom 3:1-9. Has anyone ever heard this reading during a reconciliation liturgy?
