Today's Readings
Read carefully or listen attentively to the words in Sirach's writings. While written to the people in Israel, especially around Jerusalem, about 190 BC, the message or the sentiments fit our contemporary scenes.
These words from Ben Sirach are somewhat strange for his general themes. Here we can hear words of prayer beseeching God to protect his people. The prayer is a communal petition to provide strength over the nations who have attacked the Jewish people.
There are moments in our lives when we may share the same sentiments that the Jewish people held in their hearts, emotions that brought them to pray especially for God care. They are especially mindful of the attacks other nations and tribes have brought about.
This prayer easily could be the voice of our Church calling out to God in times when it is so evident that the Evil Spirit has worked so much havoc in our times. It is a prayer that each of us could offer for the Church and those who seek to strengthen the Church to be the instrument in the global community that the Holy Spirit seeks to bring about for the Father and the Son.
This prayer stands as a witness that believers can look upon their situations and easily turn to their creator God with confidence.
Let this prayer be a source of support and confidence for all of us in this 21st century.
