Prosper of Aquitaine

In his own words on Sirach

• Sirach 11:14

  God in truth has created the body and the spirit of every single human being. Besides the diversity each person may choose to pursue, there is an infinite variety created by God beyond what could be voluntarily achieved by everyone in what each person receives at the beginning of his or her existence. But there are those who would upset us and many who would lead us astray with their vain sayings and false opinions among those who presume to be in the know about unknowable things, having attributed these original differences to fate (even if it does not exist) and to the stars. But we are firmly convinced that God the creator forms all the different types and models of things according to his will from the original elements, and although the nature of the spirit is of one kind and the body another, he deals with them according to the methods most agreeable to him. And surely these acts of God would not have been withdrawn from human knowing if there was a reason for them to be known; or it would be clearly revealed why everything happens the way it does, if it were not sufficient to know that it happens in this way. The Lord said to Moses, "Who has given speech to humankind and who has made the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Is it not perhaps I the Lord God?" And again in Isaiah, " 'Have I not made the sterile and the fecund?' says the Lord." In the book of Ecclesiasticus there is the saying, "Good and evil, life and death, poverty and riches come from the Lord." And Job says, "The tents of robbers are at peace, and with impudence they provoke God, even though he has given everything into their hands."

  THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 1:14

• Sirach 25:11

  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." This fear, which results from some type of frightening experience, renders one willing who began by being previously afraid, and not only willing but also wise. For thus it is written, "Happy are those to whom it has been granted to have the fear of God." What could possibly render the soul more blessed than this fear that is the parent and master of wisdom? The will is filled with the devotion that springs from wisdom and progresses from that same fear with which it began and that provoked grace. When, therefore, this fear becomes instilled in us with the force of great terror, this does not mean that it extinguishes reason or lessens our intelligence; rather, the haze that has hovered over our mind is removed, yes, and the will that was at first depraved and taken prisoner becomes right and free. For just as the spirit does not receive virtue if it has not received the beam of the true light, so grace does not confer anything to the one on whom it calls if the eyes of the will have not been opened.

  THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 2:27

• Sirach 31:10

  If we go back to the beginnings of the world, we find that the Spirit of God guided all of the saints before the flood, and for this reason they are also called children of God, since, as the apostle says, "All those who are guided by the Spirit of God are children of God." And because, neglecting to obey the ancestors, they became involved in illicit and reprobate marriages, and because of this wicked communion were judged worthy of extermination, the Lord said, "My Spirit will not remain forever with these people, for they are flesh." From this it is clear that this people, whose history is narrated year by year in an orderly manner, was first spiritual, that is, having a will that was guided by the Holy Spirit, in such a way however that this government and guidance did not take away their freedom to turn toward sin. If the people had not exercised this freedom, they would not have abandoned God. Nor would they have been abandoned by God, and they would rather have been that of which it is written, "Happy the one who could have sinned but did not." Therefore, as long as they remained with God, they remained in the will that God inspired in them and by which he would have governed them. "The will," as it is written, "is predisposed by the Lord."

  THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 2:10

• Sirach 40:1

  At no time does our corruptibility participate in incorruptibility, given that, our nature being destined to die, it is at all times subject to death. The beginning of this life is the beginning of death, and no sooner does our age begin to increase than our life begins to decrease. And if a stretch of time is added to it, it is not added in a permanent way but transitorily, always moving toward death. Thus a person, mortal from the beginning, who one day dies, does not die in violation of the law of mortality, and the possibility of dying is always greater for him than that of living. And although the mortality of all people derives from a single cause, nevertheless many are the weaknesses that lacerate corruptible human nature. And not only the years or the months or days of human life but every hour and each individual moment are subject to illness, depression and injuries. And there is no manner of dying that does not happen to at least someone among mortals. There hangs "a severe yoke over the children of Adam, from the day they come forth from their mother's womb until the day of their burial in the mother of all, the earth."

  THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 2:21