This Week’s Readings

Wisdom 3:1-9

The writer of  Wisdom is trying to grapple with the perceived injustices around life and death. He reflects on how death, rather than being simply a cause of pain and grief, can be a site of hope and that which is
eternal.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

In this reading, St Paul writes to the church in Thessalonika who have experienced the pain of lost loved ones. He, like the writer of Wisdom, reflects on the hope that death can reveal. For Paul, this hope is bound up in Christ Jesus who himself rose from the dead and promises to return one day in victory.

Matthew 25:1-13

Through the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesus encourages his followers to keep watch. They are to keep watch for his return, which will be the fulfilment of hope.