Today's first reading is from Sirach. This book is a part of what Catholics call The "Deutero-canonical" books, and the Protestants call "Apocrypha". In other words, it's in the Catholic bible, but not the Protestant one. So once more (ooh, two days in a row!) we are at a reading that I know NOTHING about. It's a long one, too. Here goes: Sirach 48:1-14
Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah
whose words were as a flaming furnace.
Their staff of bread he shattered,
in his zeal he reduced them to straits;
By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens
and three times brought down fire.
How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!
Whose glory is equal to yours?
You brought a dead man back to life
from the nether world, by the will of the LORD.
You sent kings down to destruction,
and easily broke their power into pieces.
You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness.
You heard threats at Sinai,
at Horeb avenging judgments.
You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance,
and a prophet as your successor.
You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,
in a chariot with fiery horses.
You were destined, it is written, in time to come
to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,
To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,
and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.
Blessed is he who shall have seen you
And who falls asleep in your friendship.
For we live only in our life,
but after death our name will not be such.
O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind!

Then Elisha, filled with the twofold portion of his spirit,
wrought many marvels by his mere word.
During his lifetime he feared no one,
nor was any man able to intimidate his will.
Nothing was beyond his power;
beneath him flesh was brought back into life.
In life he performed wonders,
and after death, marvelous deeds

This seems to me to be a kind of eulogy-poetry-appreciation for Elijah and Elisha. This is all just about what we read yesterday, which I guess is the tie-in (Good thing I started yesterday and not today!). What I'm hoping is that it is a foreshadow of the old testament readings to come, and a recap of what we just read. It's important to remember the ancient heroes of the bible, and I'm just not so familiar with Elijah and Elisha. This is definitely going to make me go and peruse through Kings later. Although, I did just peek to tomorrow's reading, which is from Kings, and there was no Elijah or Elisha. I think what we are reading here is a re-cap. To me, it feels like the ancient Jewish version of a viking death song. Yes, I did just make that term up, but you know what I mean. I still think it's a marvelous piece of writing, though. Sirach, not me.

On to the next: Matthew 6:7-15
Jesus said to his disciples:“In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“This is how you are to pray:
‘Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.’
“If you forgive others their transgressions,your heavenly Father will forgive you.But if you do not forgive others,neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

There is a lot of good stuff here.

First of all, this is a part of the whole "don't play it up for the crowds when you are doing right" sermon. So, he's asking us not to "babble like the pagans". My study bible says that this is probably a reference to the pagans listing a long list of divine names, "hoping that one of them will force a response from the deity." I'm using a lot of quotations here. That makes me feel a little better, because more often than not, my prayer is a long babbling conversation on my end, kinda like the main character from Fiddler on the Roof. So, the point here is to not make a big fat deal. Prayer is called for, but nice private time, thank you very much.

Second, this prayer is the most perfectly composed thing I've ever seen in my life. Even in my darkest agnostic days, I always had to admit that (to me) this prayer is proof of some kind of divinity, because never has such a piece of literature or poetry hit the mark as perfectly as this one. For me, there has never been anything that I wanted to say or ask of God that wasn't covered in this one.

The last part of this reading is the scariest part of the whole bible to me. I can only be forgiven if I forgive others? I'd really prefer it if one of the things that I could be forgiven is my personal lack of charity towards others when they tick me off. But no, I'm expected to go and put my big girl pants on and forgive others. I think this is Jesus asking us to strive towards divinity. I don't think we'll ever reach it in this life, but we should try.