Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom

All wisdom comes from the LORD and with him it remains forever.

The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain, the days of eternity: who can number these? Heaven's height, earth's breadth, the depths of the abyss: who can explore these?

Before all things else wisdom was created; and prudent understanding, from eternity.

To whom has wisdom's root been revealed? Who knows her subtleties?

There is but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring, seated upon his throne:

It is the LORD; he created her, has seen her and taken note of her.

He has poured her forth upon all his works, upon every living thing according to his bounty; he has lavished her upon his friends.

Fear of the LORD is glory and splendor, gladness and a festive crown.

Fear of the LORD warms the heart, giving gladness and joy and length of days.

He who fears the LORD will have a happy end; even on the day of his death he will be blessed.

The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD, which is formed with the faithful in the womb.

The above passages comes from a man named Jesus. But not Jesus Christ, the Book of Sirach derives its name from the author, Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach (Sirach 50:27). Its earliest title seems to have been "Wisdom of the Son of Sirach." The designation "Liber Ecclesiasticus," meaning "Church Book," appended to some Greek and Latin manuscripts was due to the extensive use which the church made of this book in presenting moral teaching to catechumens and to the faithful.

The author, a sage who lived in Jerusalem, was thoroughly imbued with love for the law, the priesthood, the temple, and divine worship. As a wise and experienced observer of life he addressed himself to his contemporaries with the motive of helping them to maintain religious faith and integrity through study of the holy books, and through tradition.

The secular world rejects Jesus and thus rejects wisdom. The secular world rejects wisdom and thus rejects Jesus. In my 50+ years on this planet I have seen a slide towards mediocrity that borders on absurd. Children can be educated through high school and college without having read any books on classical thought, philosophy, literature, or have an ounce of comprehension of sacred art, architecture, liturgy, or music. Worship has been reduced to either an empty modern church which resembles a Pizza Hut with nothing that remotely resembles the heavenly temple that it is suppose to, or it has become a polished techno-production with large videos, track lighting, stages with audio enhanced sound systems. I was watching a blip on some news program about a group of Mormon women who were putting out a "sexy" calendar for 2010, there was criticism about it to which several women responded " I don't have a problem with God." My first thought was that perhaps maybe, God has a problem with you. We have turned things into a convoluted understanding of whom God is and our relationship towards Him. Our life is to be ordered around God not vice versa. We have lost the pursuit of wisdom because we no longer fear God. Make no mistake future generations will pay a price for ignoring Wisdom.