Sirach 44:1–2

Sirach 44:1–2 opens the great "Praise of the Ancestors" (44–50), one of the most celebrated passages in the deuterocanonical books, with a call to honor the holy men of Israel's history. The hymn's opening declaration is theologically precise: the glory visible in these famous men is not merely human achievement but the creative and sustaining power of God himself, manifested through them from the very beginning of history. These two verses establish the theological key for reading all that follows — human greatness is a vehicle for divine glory.

Verse 1 — "Let us now praise famous men, our ancestors in their generations."

The opening imperative — "Let us now praise" (Hebrew: 'ahallĕlâ, from hll, the same root as hallelujah) — is deliberately liturgical. Ben Sira, writing in Jerusalem around 180 BC, is composing not merely a historical retrospective but a hymnic act of worship, resembling the great psalms of Israel's communal remembrance (cf. Ps 78, 105, 106). The phrase "famous men" (Greek: andras endoxous; Hebrew: literally "men of steadfast love," anšê ḥesed) is richly ambiguous. The Greek translation emphasizes visible renown and honor; the underlying Hebrew links these figures to ḥesed — God's own covenantal faithfulness and loving-kindness. Ben Sira's "famous men," then, are not celebrities but saints: men whose lives bore the imprint of divine covenant love.

"Our ancestors in their generations" situates the reader within a living tradition. The phrase "in their generations" (be-dôrôtām) is the same construction used in Genesis 6:9 of Noah and in 17:7 of God's covenant with Abraham — a word that marks the continuity of God's redemptive purposes across time. Ben Sira is not cataloguing ancient heroes in the abstract; he is tracing the spine of salvation history, inviting his readers to see themselves as the inheritors and continuation of this line.

Verse 2 — "The Lord created great glory in them — his mighty power from the beginning."

This verse is the theological linchpin of the entire hymn. The verb "created" (Greek: epoiēsen; Hebrew likely bārāʾ or yāṣar) is theologically loaded — it is the language of Genesis 1, of God's original creative act. Ben Sira is making a bold claim: the greatness of these men is not self-made. Their glory is created glory, a direct participation in and reflection of God's own sovereign power. This anticipates the Catechism's insistence that human dignity is not intrinsic to human achievement but is rooted in the creative act of God who makes human beings in his image (CCC 1700–1701).

"His mighty power from the beginning" (merab kōaḥ, "the great power") echoes the Wisdom literature's understanding that God's glory has been poured into creation — and especially into human creatures — since before time. The phrase "from the beginning" subtly aligns these ancestors with the Wisdom who was "at the beginning of his work" (Prov 8:22), suggesting that the whole chain of holy ancestors participates in a pattern laid down in creation itself.

Catholic tradition uniquely illuminates this passage at several levels.

First, the theology of participatory glory. The Catechism teaches that God created human beings not merely as recipients of glory but as participants in it: "God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life" (CCC 1). Ben Sira anticipates this theology precisely: the glory in the ancestors is not autonomous human splendor but God's own creative power dwelling and acting through human persons. This resonates with the patristic concept of theōsis — divinization — articulated by Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria, and in the West by Augustine and Leo the Great.

Second, this passage undergirds the Catholic theology of the Communion of Saints. The Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium (nos. 50–51) teaches that the Church is one across time, comprising the pilgrim Church, the suffering souls, and the saints in glory. Ben Sira's liturgical act of praising the ancestors is an early biblical expression of this same communion — to honor the holy ones of the past is to acknowledge the unbroken continuity of God's saving work. Pope Benedict XVI, in Verbum Domini (no. 29), noted that Scripture itself is a living tradition, and Ben Sira's hymn exemplifies how Israel internalized that tradition liturgically.

Third, the phrase "The Lord created great glory in them" speaks to the theology of vocation. The Church teaches that every human person is called by name (cf. Isa 43:1; CCC 2158) and that holiness is not self-generated but received. St. Thomas Aquinas, in Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 109, a. 1, insists that no creature can move toward its supernatural end without God's prior and sustaining grace. Ben Sira's verse, read through this lens, is a confession of grace: these men were great because God made them so.

In an age saturated with celebrity culture and a tendency to flatten heroes into influencers, these two verses offer a pointed counter-witness. Ben Sira's "famous men" are praised not for wealth, power, or fame in themselves, but because God's creative glory shone through their covenant faithfulness. For a contemporary Catholic, this passage issues a concrete challenge: Whose greatness do you celebrate, and on what basis?

Practically, the passage invites Catholics to recover the devotional practice of studying the saints — not as distant ideals but as living proof that God's creative glory is still poured into human lives today. Reading the lives of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Ávila, or Blessed Carlo Acutis is not pious nostalgia; it is, in the spirit of Ben Sira, an act of praise directed ultimately at God.

Furthermore, "in their generations" speaks to intergenerational faith — the transmission of the faith within families and parishes. In a time when religious identity is increasingly privatized and hereditary faith is declining, Ben Sira's hymn calls Catholics to see themselves as both receivers and transmitters of a sacred inheritance, responsible for passing on the living tradition to the next generation.