It was not God who made death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living; He created all things to endure… But the wicked… say to themselves, reasoning wrongly: our life is short and sorrowful; there is no remedy for man’s death, and no one is known to have returned from Hades…
WISDOM 1:13 – 2:25
It was not God who made death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living; He created all things to endure…
But the wicked… say to themselves, reasoning wrongly: our life is short and sorrowful; there is no remedy for man’s death, and no one is known to have returned from Hades… Come, therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that are present, and let us quickly use up the creatures like youth’s first fervor. Let us oppress the righteous poor; let us not spare the widow, nor revere the aged with their many years…
Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the secrets of God, nor did they hope for a reward for holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls. For God created man for incorruptibility, and made him in the image of his own nature…
It is the last of the “Wisdom Books,” and the last of the writings of the Old Testament, perhaps written at the beginning of the first century. Some authors even think it is contemporary with Jesus. It is not included in the Hebrew canon. The Church has always held it in high esteem, and it is frequently read at the Eucharist.
Like all the wisdom books, “wisdom” is knowing how to live, applying the Word of God to life, acting sensibly according to the will of God. The text we read today is magnificent, and it offers us a double reflection: God does not want death, but life, for that He has created all things; the wicked are deceived in thinking that everything ends here and therefore the only thing that matters is to enjoy.
The word “impious” catches my attention, especially when applied to us today. By “us” I mean the society of the first world, of the West, of the North or however one wants to call it, which claims (we claim) to be followers of Jesus, but who feel death as the definitive disaster and aspire above all to the ephemeral happiness of consumption. That is, impious.
These are issues that on the one hand fill us with hope and shame and, on the other, encourage a life governed by the criteria of Jesus, directed towards the Ultimate Life.
1 CORINTHIANS 8:7-15
But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in the love we have for you—see that you excel in this act of grace as well. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Here I am not speaking of relieving others by putting yourselves in need, but of equality. At the present time, your abundance supplies their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be equality. As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
Paul has organized a collection for the brothers in Jerusalem, who are experiencing economic hardship. In these lines, he exhorts the brothers in Corinth to be generous.
The topic is not directly related to the other two texts, but in the context of our current Western society, a surprising connection arises: the ideal of life for much of our society, which manifests itself in youth in a striking way but resides in all ages, in more refined and less spectacular (sometimes) ways, shows the deep connection of attitudes: placing the goal of life in enjoying the immediate and disregarding the problems of others.
The word “leveling” falls short. Jesus will speak of feeling the problems of others as one’s own. And in the early communities “no one considered their possessions as their own” but put them at the disposal of the community so that “there was no one in need among them.”
José Enrique Galarreta