> ‎Chapter 4‎ > ‎Chapter 5‎ > ‎Chapter 6‎ > ‎Chapter 7‎ > ‎Chapter 8‎ > ‎Chapter 9‎ > ‎Chapter 10‎ > ‎Chapter 11‎ > ‎Chapter 12‎ > ‎Chapter 13‎ > ‎Chapter 14‎ > ‎Chapter 15‎ > ‎Chapter 16‎ > ‎Chapter 17‎ > ‎Chapter 18‎ > ‎Chapter 19‎ > ‎Chapter 20‎ > ‎Chapter 21‎ > ‎Chapter 22‎ > ‎Chapter 23‎ > ‎Chapter 24‎ > ‎Chapter 25‎ > ‎Chapter 26‎ > ‎Chapter 27‎ > ‎Chapter 28‎ > ‎Chapter 29‎ > ‎Chapter 30‎ > ‎Chapter 31‎ > ‎Chapter 32‎ > ‎Chapter 33‎ > ‎Chapter 34‎ > ‎Chapter 35‎ > ‎Chapter 36‎ > ‎Chapter 37‎ > ‎Chapter 38‎ > ‎Chapter 39‎ > ‎Chapter 40‎ > ‎Chapter 41‎ > ‎Chapter 42‎ > ‎Chapter 43‎ > ‎Chapter 44-50‎ >  

 

 

 

Chapter 3: Sirach returns to a great theme of Proverbs:  honor
to Father and Mother.and He advances by saying: "He who honors
Father,atones for sins." The concept that sin is a debt,which
the Holiness of God wants paid, is found all over Scripture,in
both Old and New Testaments,in the Intertestamental
Literature,in the Fathers of the Church,in the Rabbis:
cf.Wm.Most,The Thought of St.Paul, appendix. Sirach adds that
one should not scorn or neglect a father whose mind has
decayed from old age. Kindness to a Father God will not forget
- The fourth Commandment promised long life for it -and it
will be credited against the man's sins - that is, will
rebalance the scales of the objective order. In
3.30,almsgiving also atones for sin: it is a rebalance of the
scales again.

In all these things,humility is essential: (3.18) The
greater one is, the more humble he should be. St.Paul will add
that every bit of good we are and have and do is simply God's
gift to us:(1 Cor 4.7). So what have we, of ourselves that we
can boast of? Nothing at all.