The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus 39:16 Commentary

All the merits of holiness, though good and useful not only for the present life but also in view of gaining eternity, when compared with the merits of divine contemplation must nevertheless be considered vile and, so to speak, of little worth. And so that this comparison would be confirmed by the authority of the Scriptures, is it not true that the Scripture states comprehensively concerning all the things created by God, “And all the things that God created were very good,” and, “All the things created by God are good in their time”? So then, the things of the present world are not simply called good but superlatively good. For us who live in this world, they serve for the needs of life, of bodily health, or some other useful reason unknown to us. Or, they are even “very good” in that they enable us “to see the invisible things of God from the creatures of the world, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,” through such a great and ordered disposition of the created universe and of all the things existing in it. Yet all of these things will not be deemed worth being called good once they are compared with the future age, in which there will be no alteration of good things and where no interruption of the true blessedness is to be feared.