hesed - oca and cynch - 8th week friday

Today, as in the days before, I would like to reflect on our first reading from the book of Sirach.  In our reading today Joshua Ben Sirach speaks of the preoccupation of being remembered – who will be remembered, who will be forgotten.  For Ben Sirach only those who are godly will be remembered, but for others, when they cease, they cease, for them there is no memory. 

We all want to be remembered.  I remember crying at the Doctors’ Hospital Cafeteria last year when I realized that my mother could no longer remember me.  I never thought that it would come to a point that a mother could no longer remember her son.  But it happened and it hurt.

To be remembered is a human preoccupation.  It is probably part of that innate desire in all of us to live forever.  But who will be remembered, who will be forgotten?  Ben Sirach say, only the godly will be remembered.  The English word godly is used here to translate the Hebrew word hesed – the godly men are the men of hesed.  Hesed means loyal love - Hesed is faithfulness in infidelity, hesed is loving kindness in heartlessness and cruelty, and hesed is mercy and compassion in failures and mistakes.  To be remembered is to be men and women of hesed.

The word hesed is a description that can be found most especially in what are referred to as the morning prayer psalms.  These are psalms that are said in the morning.  We have survived the night, we have gone through darkness and night, and at dawn, when light can be seen again, and all can be seen clearly again because of the light, hesed is praised, hesed is recognized.  Loyal love is remembered forever, and all others as Sirach says, when they cease, they cease, for them there is no memory.

At the end of the day may we be remembered because of hesed, our hesed for one another.