5/26/2015 – Tuesday of the 8th week in Ordinary Time – Sirach 35:1-12

       We have been in the Easter season for seven weeks, and with the celebration of Pentecost this past weekend, we now enter into Ordinary Time once again.  For those weeks of the Easter season, we had been listening to readings from the Acts of the Apostles in our first readings, learning about how the Early Church formed and grew out of that small group of Christ’s disciples. This entire week our first readings are from the Old Testament book of Sirach, writings in the tradition of Wisdom literature by a scribe who lived in Jerusalem in the early third century.  Besides being known as the Book of Sirach, it is often called Ecclesiasticus.  The scribe originally wrote the book in Hebrew, but his grandson later translated it into Greek.  The original Hebrew version of the Book of Sirach was lost for more than 1,000 years, but in the late 19^th and early 20^th century, fragments of it were found in the original Hebrew.  Since the original Hebrew text had been lost for so long, it is not a part of the Hebrew Scriptures or the Protestant Bible, but is still included in our Catholic Scriptures.  The tone and the content of Sirach is similar to the book of Proverbs, in that they contain short wisdom verses that are often grouped by theme.

      In our reading today, we hear wisdom address the offerings that we bring to the Lord in the context of our religious practices.  Some of those offerings may come from the heart and may be true sacrifices, but others may be just hollow gestures from us that don’t pay attention to justice or truth.  According to Sirach, the Lord desires that there be a connection between the offerings we give him and the values we live out.  Sirach tells us that giving alms and offerings to the Lord can indeed be a sincere act of worship if they are done out of joy and love. Living an upright life in accordance with God’s commandments and  performing acts of charity are worthy offerings to God, too. 

      There are so many messages in the world today that call out to us.  There were many different messages present in Ancient Israel as well. It is never easy living a life of faith. It is never easy living the values of the Gospels.  We have many different types of help and encouragement along our journey – having God’s wisdom to lead us and instruct us is one such help.