Sirach 9:14-18. Sirach advises us to get to know our neighbors as best we can and to consult with the wise. Our conversations should be with men of understanding and our discussions about the law of the Most High. Our dinner companions should be righteous men and our glory should be in our fear of the Lord. Just as a work is praised based on the skill of the craftsman, so will our leaders be proven wise based on their words. A babbler is to be feared and a man reckless in speech will be hated.

Just last night a friend and I were discussing how we have to choose our true friends, our confidants, carefully. We must be kind and loving to all, of course, but we need people around us who are seeking the same thing - wisdom, truth, God. These should be our closest companions. That way we will know that we are getting advice from someone who has the same goals, and the same understanding of life, as we do. They still may be wrong, as we may be, but the discussions we have with them will be oriented toward truth and will therefore enlighten both of us.

The first line of this passage, though, tells us to get to know our neighbors as best we can. I think this means we must give everyone a chance to join our inner group of friends. If we don't try to get to know our neighbor as best we can, we may be failing to see a cherished relationship that God has put right in our lives. We cannot assume that we know what our neighbors are thinking, or how they are praying, or what their ultimate goal in life is, unless we get to know them. If we don't open ourselves to others, we risk just clinging to the people we know well and this makes us stop growing - we fail to hear new words of wisdom and we become an echo chamber. This part is where I think I have been failing a bit. I have my group of very close friends and we are comfortable with each other, but we need to strive to bring new people in and to listen to their voices, too. It may be that these new people are not wise, but if they are willing to discuss things openly, they are probably seeking the truth and should be welcomed. They don't have to become the people that we have dinner with, although some probably will, that is how we make new friends, but in any event we will be better for having been open to them.

A good way to judge who to spend time with is through their reaction to, and willingness to engage in, discussions of religious matters. "[L]et your discussion be about the law of the Most High," says Sirach, and he's right. God's law affects everything, it orders everything, it gives meaning to everything, so we have to use it as a starting point in any discussion. All earthly matters must be seen through the light of His law. This makes life and decision-making a lot simpler, although not at all any easier - in fact it often makes it more difficult (such as standing against a vaccine you have moral objections to when the entire world (including the Pope!!) is pressuring you to get it!) Having friends who were seeking truth made all the difference to me in being able to get through the last few years. Some got vaccinated, others did not, but they were all willing to discuss the pros and cons, the moral aspects, the truth of what was going on, and to offer reason opinions based on moral law and changing information. The rest of the world just shouted, lied (or spread misinformation and refused to hear the truth), and punished people until it got its way.

This leads me to the last part of this passage - a leader is proved wise by his words. I see no leaders on the world stage right now being proven wise by their words, or their actions, or anything about them. This is one reason I am sure we are heading towards some kind of monumental change in the world. Our leaders use God, if they think of Him at all, as a tool to convince others they are "un-Christian" if they do not do exactly what the leaders say. They manipulate, they lie, they coerce, they obfuscate, they cheat, and they use God and religion as tools to accomplish their goals. Nothing they do is wise or measured. They may have some weird sense of good intentions, I think some actually do, but their concept of "good" is not based on natural law, and is so skewed by lies, self-deception, greed, power, and self-righteousness, that they are actually doing evil instead. They think of themselves as gods, and try to order humanity according to their will and benefit.

We must put not our trust in these princes, but instead look to the law of the Most High and choose our friends, and leaders, wisely.