Thursday, January 6, 2011

You might be Catholic if…

You know you're really Catholic when you get multiple enriching devotional times from readings in Baruch. I've been in this passage several times in the past few weeks.

3:[9] Hear the commandments of life, O Israel;
give ear, and learn wisdom!
[10] Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are
in the land of your enemies,
that you are growing old in a foreign country,
that you are defiled with the dead,
[11] that you are counted among those in Hades?
[12] You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.
[13] If you had walked in the way of God,
you would be dwelling in peace for ever.
[14] Learn where there is wisdom,
where there is strength,
where there is understanding,
that you may at the same time discern
where there is length of days, and life,
where there is light for the eyes, and peace.

[15] Who has found her place?
And who has entered her storehouses?
[16] Where are the princes of the nations,
and those who rule over the beasts on earth;
[17] those who have sport with the birds of the air,
and who hoard up silver and gold,
in which men trust,
and there is no end to their getting;
[18] those who scheme to get silver, and are anxious,
whose labors are beyond measure?
[19] They have vanished and gone down to Hades,
and others have arisen in their place.

[20] Young men have seen the light of day,
and have dwelt upon the earth;
but they have not learned the way to knowledge,
nor understood her paths,
nor laid hold of her.
[21] Their sons have strayed far from her way.
[22] She has not been heard of in Canaan,
nor seen in Teman;
[23] the sons of Hagar, who seek for understanding on the earth,
the merchants of Merran and Teman,
the story-tellers and the seekers for understanding,
have not learned the way to wisdom,
nor given thought to her paths.

[24] O Israel, how great is the house of God!
And how vast the territory that he possesses!
[25] It is great and has no bounds;
it is high and immeasurable.
[26] The giants were born there, who were famous of old,
great in stature, expert in war.
[27] God did not choose them,
nor give them the way to knowledge;
[28] so they perished because they had no wisdom,
they perished through their folly.

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