Christmas Season · The Holy Family of Jesus: Mary and Joseph · Year A
Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Kindness to a Father Credited
December 28, 2025
Overview & Insights
“help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives” (Sirach 3:12)
Ben Sira was a scribe teaching in Jerusalem around 180 B.C., and his book takes the form of a father instructing a son; his grandson’s preface describes translating it into Greek in Egypt some fifty years later. This unit expands the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16) into a set of reciprocal obligations, and its boldest move is cultic. Honoring a parent is described in the language of the altar and the treasury, atoning for sin and storing up riches (vv. 3-4), a transfer Ben Sira makes elsewhere with almsgiving at 3:30. The second half does not describe an ideal household. It takes the hard case, the father whose understanding has failed (v. 13), and asks forbearance exactly there, promising that such kindness is credited rather than counted as loss. Read on the feast of the Holy Family, the passage speaks of duties that outlast the years in which a family is easy.
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Take it further: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Commentary
Ecclesiasticus 3 - Haydock Commentary Online Haydock Catholic Commentary
Verse-by-verse Catholic patristic-tradition commentary on honoring parents in Sirach 3.
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Year A Catholic Productions
Brant Pitre walks through Sirach's teaching on filial piety as the Old Testament frame for the Holy Family.
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Cycle A Loyola Press Sunday Connection
Family-facing reflection connecting Sirach's honor-your-parents instruction to the Sunday's theme.
The Holy Family (Cycle A) Agape Bible Study
Line-by-line Catholic study notes on Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 within the full set of Holy Family readings.
Background & Word Study
Ecclesiasticus, Chapter 3 New Advent (Douay-Rheims + Vulgate)
Parallel Douay-Rheims English and Latin Vulgate text of the assigned Sirach passage.
Ben Sira 3 Sefaria
Ben Sira in its Hebrew/Jewish-wisdom-literature context, useful background for a deuterocanonical reading Protestant tools skip.
Catholic Encyclopedia: Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)Catholic Encyclopedia: Ecclesiasticus (Sir) New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia
Explains why Sirach is canonical for Catholics but not Protestants, essential context for this reading.
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