CAF Bible Study - The Book of Widsom Chapter 3

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I love this passage because it is encouragement in times of grief and loss and even just suffering.
1 But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. 2 They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction 3 and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. 4 For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; 5 Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. 6 As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. 7 In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble; 8 They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the LORD shall be their King forever.
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“the souls of the just are in the hand of God”, THAT’S what I want!
 
5 Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. 6 As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. 7 In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
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Could these verses be alluding to purgatory?
 
Wis 3:3 In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
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The above verse brought to mind the Council of Trent description of our souls when they are filled with sanctifying grace at Baptism:
…Now according to the definition of the Council of Trent, which under pain of anathema we are bound to believe, grace not only remits sin, but is also a divine quality inherent in the soul, and, as it were, a brilliant light that effaces all those stains which obscure the lustre of the soul, investing it with increased brightness and beauty.Just love that definition; picturing it. Am really looking forward to the day when we will be able to see the spiritual realities given in the Wisdom verse and Trent definition.

(Source is Council of Trent Catechism: Baptism; Third Effect of Baptism catholicapologetics.info/thechurch/catechism/Holy7Sacraments-Baptism.shtml )

Nita
 
JAGCath28 said:
Could these verses be alluding to purgatory?
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That’s what I was thinking…the refiner’s fire…
6 As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
 
This Chapter is troubling to me. It is complex to me. At the end it says:
3:16. But the children of adulterers shall not come to perfection, and the seed of the unlawful bed shall be rooted out. 3:17. And if they live long, they shall be nothing regarded, and their last old age shall be without honour. 3:18. And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, nor speech of comfort in the day of trial. 3:19. For dreadful are the ends of a wicked race.
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I think of those who are direly deprived in our world: the lonely and elderly; the sick and dying; the wrongfully imprisoned; those in refugee camps. Were the ends of our Catholic martyrs not dreadful?

These are things I have not figured out yet. But at the beginning, it says:
3:1. But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. 3:2. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery:

3:3. And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace.
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3:4. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. 3:5. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.
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So we are speaking about another kind of life? The life of the spirit? The life after death?

I am a little puzzled by the detail. It speaks about the labours, wives, children of the wicked coming to naught. Surely this must be in the other life – not this one. I have surely seen the ungodly come to something other than naught in this life.

Can someone help me please? I worry about this a lot. When I feel like my own life is coming to naught, I think I have done something wrong and that it is still wrong despite my confessions. I KNOW that can’t be true. I totally KNOW that God forgives my sins.

So then there must be temporal punishment which remains for what I did before I confessed. Even that doesn’t make sense to me because the ungodly don’t seem to be getting temporal punishment for what they do and moreover they don’t confess!

I sense that this Chapter prefigures a discourse on Reality and Illusion but am too dense to flesh it out yet.
 
I think when they talk about them having peace it is God’s peace, peace in the heart and soul. My grandmother died from cancer in the 70’s - not an easy death, but she was at peace. I heard several time from other relatives the nurses telling them how peaceful she was and what a witness she was.

My trouble with this chapter is how the wicked’s children shall not have peace, their lives will be destruction. We have all met people who have had terrible or wicked parents who have turned out great. And people who have truely Godly parents that seemed to live a life of wickedness . :confused:
 
txlassy said:
I think when they talk about them having peace it is God’s peace, peace in the heart and soul. My grandmother died from cancer in the 70’s - not an easy death, but she was at peace. I heard several time from other relatives the nurses telling them how peaceful she was and what a witness she was.

My trouble with this chapter is how the wicked’s children shall not have peace, their lives will be destruction. We have all met people who have had terrible or wicked parents who have turned out great. And people who have truely Godly parents that seemed to live a life of wickedness . :confused:
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This is an enigma that baffles me as well. Just from my own perspective, I look at my family. I have an aunt who has such a deep, rich relationship with Christ. She definitely brought her children (my cousins) up to participate in that same kind of closeness, and yet from the outside looking in, their lives don’t reflect it at all. Another example is a friend of mine…same thing…her mother is a very good Christian woman and yet my friend isn’t living that kind of life. I don’t understand. You have someone like me whose parents weren’t the best examples, and yet how I survived my childhood was having faith in Christ as my protector.

I think you are right about the peace in your soul. Just because the wicked in this world seem to succeed and excel in life, they don’t necessarily have the peace that we do.
 
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