Quodvultdeus

In his own words on Sirach

• Sirach 23:6

  Forgetful of freedom and grace and desiring the Egyptian foods, the people were found guilty of murmuring against God and against Moses. They say, "Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish that we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the leeks, the garlic and the onions. Now, however," they add, "our life has dried up, and we see nothing before us but this manna." The sweet things are rejected, the bitter desired. A grave, debilitating illness leads the soul to want to take what is harmful and to despise and reject what is useful and good for salvation. Thus they refused the manna, that is, Christ, saying, "We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one comes from." Christ says in reproof, "If you believed Moses, you would also believe me, because it is of me that he wrote. Indeed, I am the living bread come down from heaven." Did they not reject the holy manna when they said to Pilate, who wanted to release Jesus, "Release not him but Barabbas"? Barabbas was a notorious thief, and by asking for his release they professed to have in a certain sense desired, from among the thief's crimes, the leeks, the onions and the garlic, those unpleasant Egyptian foods that make one cry. To those who murmured, in fact, the divine majesty offered meats that did not restore but instead ruined those who ate them. It says in Scripture, "The natural person does not understand the things of the Spirit: every sluggard lives in concupiscence." It is right that the spiritual person asks that the desires of his flesh be taken from him. All these things show that it is wicked to desire and to ask of God things that are harmful to the soul, and especially to ask for them with murmuring. If a soul desires to enter the promised land, it must guard itself from offending God with such a desire.

  THE BOOK OF PROMISES AND PREDICTIONS OF GOD 2:8.14

• Sirach 24:14

  The place that offered rest to this people, with its twelve springs and seventy palm trees, has had a sacred meaning in our mysteries. In fact, after the baptism of the twelve apostles, who are our springs, spouts of pure doctrine overflow to fill hearts. The sacred psalm thus resounds, "In the churches, bless the Lord God from the springs of Israel." By the seventy palm trees is symbolized the whole number of the thousands of martyrs who, fighting for the truth to death, receive the palm of the heavenly calling. In the Apocalypse the apostle John speaks of them thusly: "I saw an enormous throng whom no one could count, from every tribe, people and tongue. They were clothed in white garments and had palms in their hands," palms that Wisdom, that palm that rises at Kadesh, gave to the victors.

  THE BOOK OF PROMISES AND PREDICTIONS OF GOD 1:38.55

• Sirach 27:26

  In the ninth vision Darius the Mede took the throne. He set up 120 satraps in his kingdom, commanded by three leaders, one of whom was Daniel, who had found favor in the king's sight. Envious men, plotting a trick against the servant of God, convinced the king to command that for thirty days no prayer could be offered to a god or a person but only to the king, with the penalty that if someone transgressed the king's order he would be thrown into the pit as food for the lions. Although he saw the posted decree, the prophet continued to pray to his Lord three times a day, as was his custom. They arrested him as a rebel and took him to the king, who, unable to save him from their envy, entrusted the prophet to his God, confessing that he only could save him from death, which is exactly what happened. In his distress, the king would not eat, taking neither food nor sleep, and at dawn he went in haste to see Daniel. Finding him alive and unhurt and glorifying the true God, he ordered Daniel to be taken from the pit and those who accused him to be thrown in instead, and they were immediately devoured in his presence. In these events also the prophecy was fulfilled: "One who digs a pit for his neighbor will fall into it. And one who lays a snare for his neighbor will perish in it." And our Lord Jesus, in whom all of these figures appeared, says by the mouth of the prophet, "They have dug a pit before me and have fallen in it themselves," and, "The Lord sent his mercy and his truth and has freed my life from the lions."

  THE BOOK OF PROMISES AND PREDICTIONS OF GOD 2:35.77

• Sirach 40:1

  God said to the woman, "Multiplying, I will multiply your groaning and your pain." The prophet David confirms that the children of transgressors are born in this way. "I was conceived," he says, "in iniquity, and in the midst of sins my mother fed me at her breast." Solomon also attests to the same thing. "Heavy," he says, "is the yoke on 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." And similarly, "And I, when born, inhaled the common air and fell on the same earth, and like everyone else I emitted my first sound with tears. I was raised in swaddling clothes, with great care. No king, in fact, has begun existence differently, because there is only one entrance into life for all and only one exit." And a little later, "They were an accursed race from the beginning." And Isaiah, "Evil race, wicked children, you have abandoned the Lord." Job also says, "No one is immune from defilement, not even a baby whose life on earth has been but a single day." And again, "No one can make pure what has been conceived of an impure seed, except you alone, who are pure." To expiate the curse of this seed and to purify the impurity of both the woman who has given birth and the child, the Law instituted sacrifices until the kingdom of Christ, who, his body offered in sacrifice, saves the small and the great.

  THE BOOK OF PROMISES AND PREDICTIONS OF GOD 1:4.6