Sirach 25: Worthy and Wicked
Monday, August 26, 2019
The book of Sirach is full of sound advice accompanied by a great sense of humor. Harmony, friendship, mutual love. Pride, dissembling, lechery. These are qualities that Jesus ben Sirach juxtaposes as he delineates the difference between those who are worthy of praise and those who are wicked.
Some of these verses make us laugh aloud and some of them inspire. This chapter is followed by the famous dissertation of the ideal wife, which is often read out at Mass, and all of this is good advice when we move it to a 21st Century context. What does this say to us today? What do we do about the worthy and the wicked? What do we do about the conflict between worth and wickedness?
Today we are presented with the contrast between those who are worthy because they live life honestly and well . . . and those who wound the heart and poison relationships. We know how we are to live, what we are to say, what we are to do, what we are to believe. But do we do what we know to be correct? Do we inform our conscience so that we can make good and proper decisions? How do we educate ourselves about what we are to do and what we are to say? How do we make of ourselves servants who are worthy and not wicked?
Today is the feast of St. Mark, the author of the earliest and briefest of the Gospels. He was a cousin of Barnabas – the man who accompanied Paul on some of his missions and who even helped to ease Paul’s introduction to the apostles. Tradition holds that Mark founded the church in Alexandria, and we can see how and why. His Gospel is simple and direct, burning with his love and his desire to educate us about the Word and to send the Word into the world. Today’s Gospel reading is from chapter 16, verses 16-20 and it tells us about the result of conflict between worth and wickedness. It tells us about the struggle that disciples endure. Reflect on Sirach and Mark and ponder the mystery of this conflict between worth and wickedness . . . and the mystery becomes less clouded.
From the MAGNIFICAT morning intercessions and prayer:
Reward your servants, Lord!
For all who have devoted themselves to the work of translating the word of God into the languages of the world: Reward your servants, Lord!
For all those who labor to produce Bibles for the peoples of all nations: Reward your servants, Lord!
For all who carry your word to places far away and difficult to reach: Reward your servants, Lord!
God, the Father of lights, you flood the world with your word as with a river of light. Catch up in the waters of life all those who hunger and thirst for knowledge of the truth and the right, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Image from: http://strengthfortoday.wordpress.com/tag/quips-and-quotes/
Written on April 25, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Morning.” MAGNIFICAT. 4.25 (2008). Print.
The Noontimes 