RELIGION AND ART

To the penitent God provides a way back he encourages those who are losing hope and has chosen for them the lot of truth. Return to him and give up sin, pray to the Lord and make your offences few. Turn again to the Most High and away from your sin, hate intensely what he loathes, and know the justice and judgments of God, stand firm in the say set before you in prayer to the Most High God who in the nether world can glorify the Most High in place of the living who offer their praise before death .... Sir. 17:20-24

When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one's faults when one speaks. As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just. The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does ones's speech disclose the bent of one's mind. Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then the people are tested. Sir. 27:4-7 Readings

God from the earth created man, and in his own image he made him. He makes man return to earth again, and endows him with a strength of his own. Limited days of life he gives him, with power over all things else on earth. He puts the fear of him in all flesh, and gives him rule over beasts and birds.  He created for them counsel, and a tongue and eyes and ears and an inventive heart, and filled them with understanding.  He created in them knowledge of the spirit. With wisdom he fills their heart; good and evil he shows them. Sir. 17:1-5 Readings

If you are polite and courteous, you will enjoy the friendship of many people. Exchange greetings with many, but take advice from only one person out of a thousand.  When you make friends, don't be too quick to trust them; make sure that they have proved themselves. Some people will be your friends only when it is convenient for them, but they won't stand by you in trouble. Sir. 6:5-17 Readings