Good and upright people will endure forever.
A reading from the Book of Sirach.
Now will I praise those godly people, our ancestors,
each in their own time:
The abounding glory of the Most High’s portion,
his own part, since the days of old.
Some of them have left behind a name
and people recount their praiseworthy deeds;
But of others there is no memory,
for when they ceased, they ceased.
And they are as though they had not lived,
they and their children after them.
Yet these also were godly people
whose virtues have not been forgotten;
Their wealth remains in their families,
their heritage with their descendants;
Through God’s covenant with them
their family endures,
their posterity, for their sake.
And for all time their progeny will endure,
their glory will never be blotted out;
Their bodies are peacefully laid away,
but their name lives on and on.
At gatherings their wisdom is retold,
and the assembly proclaims their praise.
The Word of the Lord.