5/24/2013 – Friday of 7th week of Ordinary Time – Sirach 6:5-17

       In our daily readings, I enjoy reading continuous books from both the Old and New Testament that we would not have the opportunity to read in such a way during the Sunday masses.  During the Easter season, we always have the opportunity to read many passages from the Acts of the Apostles.  This week in ordinary time, we have had the opportunity to read from the Book of Sirach, which is probably a book that is not on our radar very much.  Sirach was written in the tradition of Wisdom literature, a genre of writings in the ancient Mediterranean world that had the goal of teaching the reader about God and instructing him in the way of living a moral life. 

         Today’s passage from Sirach talks about the different friends we can have in life.  According to Sirach, some friends leave in times of suffering and distress, while other friends will become your enemy through a quarrel or a disagreement.  But a faithful friend is a shelter and a treasure, beyond anything else in life. 

         In our modern world, it is so easy for people to become isolated and detached with our new technology.  People send texts and emails; they spend hours on the internet and playing video games without having any face-to-face human contact.  We meet so many people who are lonely and who are in need of a friend.  We become a good friend out of faithful, out of the faithfulness we see modeled for us in Jesus and in the lives of so many of the saints.  As we experience the love and faithfulness God offers to us, we are called to live out that same love and faithfulness in our friendships and in our other relationships in life.  In Jesus’ journey to the cross, in the way he reached out to sinners and to those on the margins of society – Jesus calls out to reach out to others with that same fidelity and determination.