The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus 45:8 Bình Luận

The vestments of the high priest are nothing other than the works of the virtues and the wise doctrine that truly adorn the priest of the Lord, since he must constantly possess these. And for this reason he said, “You have crowned him with instruments of virtue.” The wise in heart, who have been filled by God with a spirit of prudence so as to make those very vestments, are the prophets and apostles, as well as the other doctors of the truth. They show us with the greatest clarity how priests and ministers of the altar must live and how they must teach, by example and action or with words of exhortation. The vestments made by Moses and his brother Aaron—that is, the sacred Scriptures—are what Paul indicates and recommends to leaders, saying, “Bishops, as administrators of God, must be beyond reproach: not arrogant, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not avid for dishonest gain, but hospitable, loving the good, sensible, just, pious, self-controlled, holding fast to sure doctrine according to the teaching that has been handed down.”