the devout

May 6, 2016

Stay with your own kind (Sir 13:15-13:20)

“Every creature loves its like.

Every person loves his neighbor.

All living beings associate

With their own kind.

People stick close to those

Like themselves.

What does a wolf have in common

With a lamb?

No more has a sinner anything in common

With the devout.

What peace is there

Between a hyena and a dog?

What peace is there

Between the rich and the poor?

Wild asses in the wilderness

Are the prey of lions.

Likewise the poor

Are feeding grounds for the rich.

Humility is an abomination

To the proud.

Likewise the poor are an abomination

To the rich.”

Sirach tells us that people and creatures like to stick with their own kind. There is a natural born prejudice to stay with your own kind of people. Everybody usually loves their neighbors. Why else would they live there? A wolf and a lamb have nothing in common, just like the sinner and the devout do not have anything in common. There can never be peace between hyenas and dogs, so too the animosity between rich and poor cannot be bridged. Wild donkeys are the prey of lions, so too are the poor the feeding grounds of the rich. The rich take advantage of the poor. The proud hate the humble, just like the rich hate the poor.

May 5, 2016

Help good people (Sir 12:1-12:7)

“If you do good,

Know to whom you do it.

You will be thanked

For your good deeds.

Do good to the devout.

You will be repaid.

If not by them,

Certainly by the Most High.

No good comes to the one

Who persists in evil.

No good comes to the one

Who does not give alms.

Give to the devout.

But do not help the sinner.

Do good to the humble.

But do not give to the ungodly.

Hold back their bread.

Do not give it to them.

By means of it,

They might subdue you.

Then you will receive

Twice as much evil

For all the good

You have done to them.

The Most High also hates sinners.

He will inflict punishment

On the ungodly.

Give to the one who is good.

But do not help the sinner.”

Sirach warns that you should help the good people, but not the ungodly or the sinners. You should know who you are helping. They will thank you for what you are doing. If you help the devout, they will repay you. Even if they don’t, the Most High God will repay you. The persistent evil doers are compared to those who do not give alms. You should help the devout, but not the sinners. Help the humble, but not the ungodly. Don’t give bread to the sinners and the ungodly, because they might subdue you. You might end up with twice as much evil for all the good that you did. The Most High God does not like sinners so he will punish them. Simply put, give to the good people and not the sinners.