Sirach 48:1-14; Psalm 97 Rejoice in the lord, you just; Matthew 6:7-15
The book of Sirach as often written eulogies of sorts for some of the more famous and loyal servant leaders of Israel.
Today we get a summarization of the life of Elijah. Sirach was written some 600 years after Elijah was taken up in the firery chariot and yet the eulogy reads as if Elijah was still very present i the mind and heart of the Israelites.
Some leaders are just that way. Even when they pass, because of the life they live, their memory holds court in the here and now.
In 600 years will there be a memory of us, our life, how we were leaders. The mark left behind after we have past will it be a stain or a seed that blossoms.
To plant a seed one has to be willing to risk. Elijah has shown the way. Of course we do not for ourselves but for the Lord, the legacy we leave behind should not point to us but to the lord but if it points to the Lord genuinely then the instrument shall be acknowledged as well.
In today's gospel Jesus teaches us how to pray and give us the prayer we know as the "our Father" or the "Lord's prayer" or the "prayer of the disciple."
It begins with these words, "Our Father…"
Here is what St Cyprian has to say, "If we are pleased to call God Father, let him in turn be pleased to call us sons and daughters by the way we live."
Pretty straight forward, I would say.
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