Insights from Sirach

Sirach is not much read outside of the Catholic Church--consigned to the so-called Apocrypha (really the deutero-canon) it is a much overlooked source of Biblical wisdom and insight and so I share these two snippets from the Office of Reading of the day:

from Sirach 1:18-20, 27-28

A man may become rich through a miser's life,
and this is his allotted reward:
When he says "I have found rest,
now I will feast on my possessions,"
He does not know how long it will be
till he dies and leaves them to others.

*******

For it is easy with the Lord on the day of death
to repay man according to his deeds.

A moment's affliction brings forgetfulness of past delights;
when a man dies, his life is revealed.
Call no man happy before his death,
for by how he ends, a man is known.

Somber and sobering thoughts--but they go along well with the age of the metaphysical poets and the memento mori.

Comments

  1. FredJanuary 13, 2010 at 1:53 AM

    "Call no man happy before his death" reminds me of something the Chorus says/sings at the conclusion of Oedipus Rex.

    ReplyDelete
  2. StevenJanuary 13, 2010 at 8:02 AM

    Dear Fred,

    A point well taken. And always interesting to me. Wisdom is universal--there is no Greek Wisdom and Chinese Wisdom and Christian Wisdom in any way that makes substantive difference--the truth is the truth and it rings like a bell wherever it is sounded.

    shalom,

    Steven

    ReplyDelete

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