March 18, 2016

LIVING AND LOVING THROUGH SORROW

Wisdom of Sirach 30:21-24 LXX

Do not give yourself over to sorrow,
And do not distress yourself deliberately.
Gladness of the heart is the life of man,
And rejoicing by a man lengthens his life.
Love your soul and comfort your heart,
And put sorrow far away from you;
For sorrow has destroyed many,
And there is no profit in it.
Envy and anger will shorten your days,
And worry will bring premature old age.

Personal Challenge

One of the challenges that we have in our modern society is that we have a pill for almost everything that can come up in our lives. Granted, there are definitely good aspects of modern medicine and health practices. In many respects, these are miraculous gifts from our Father above. However, there are many things that happen in our lives because of our choices and our responses to the consequences of these choices. Here we have Ben Sirach reminding us that if we give ourselves over to sorrow there will be all kinds of negative consequences. He does not say that we will not have situations where grieving and sorrow are appropriate. God created us to grieve in times of loss and to be sorrowful at times of pain and suffering in our lives or the lives of those around us. We are being told here to not let that sorrow consume us but to deal with it from a heart that can rejoice in the love of our God and the love of those around us. This not only applies to sorrow but to all of the passions in our lives. It is our responsibility to our God and to each other to control our passions and to not let them control us. Glory be to God!