The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus 40:1 Commento

God said to the woman, “Multiplying, I will multiply your groaning and your pain.” The prophet David confirms that the children of transgressors are born in this way. “I was conceived,” he says, “in iniquity, and in the midst of sins my mother fed me at her breast.” Solomon also attests to the same thing. “Heavy,” he says, “is the yoke on the children of Adam, from the day they come forth from their mother’s womb until the day of their burial in the mother of all.” And similarly, “And I, when born, inhaled the common air and fell on the same earth, and like everyone else I emitted my first sound with tears. I was raised in swaddling clothes, with great care. No king, in fact, has begun existence differently, because there is only one entrance into life for all and only one exit.” And a little later, “They were an accursed race from the beginning.” And Isaiah, “Evil race, wicked children, you have abandoned the Lord.” Job also says, “No one is immune from defilement, not even a baby whose life on earth has been but a single day.” And again, “No one can make pure what has been conceived of an impure seed, except you alone, who are pure.” To expiate the curse of this seed and to purify the impurity of both the woman who has given birth and the child, the Law instituted sacrifices until the kingdom of Christ, who, his body offered in sacrifice, saves the small and the great.

At no time does our corruptibility participate in incorruptibility, given that, our nature being destined to die, it is at all times subject to death. The beginning of this life is the beginning of death, and no sooner does our age begin to increase than our life begins to decrease. And if a stretch of time is added to it, it is not added in a permanent way but transitorily, always moving toward death. Thus a person, mortal from the beginning, who one day dies, does not die in violation of the law of mortality, and the possibility of dying is always greater for him than that of living. And although the mortality of all people derives from a single cause, nevertheless many are the weaknesses that lacerate corruptible human nature. And not only the years or the months or days of human life but every hour and each individual moment are subject to illness, depression and injuries. And there is no manner of dying that does not happen to at least someone among mortals. There hangs “a severe yoke over the children of Adam, from the day they come forth from their mother’s womb until the day of their burial in the mother of all, the earth.”