Apocrypha

My child, when you come to serve the Lord,
prepare yourself for testing.
Set your heart right and be steadfast,
and do not be impetuous in time of calamity.
Cling to him and do not depart,
so that your last days may be prosperous.
Accept whatever befalls you,
and in times of humiliation be patient.
For gold is tested in the fire,
and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation.
Trust in him, and he will help you;
make your ways straight, and hope in him.

You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
do not stray, or else you may fall.
You who fear the Lord, trust in him,
and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the Lord, hope for good things,
for lasting joy and mercy.
Consider the generations of old and see:
has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?
Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken?
Or has anyone called upon him and been neglected?
For the Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he forgives sins and saves in time of distress.
(Sirach 2, NRSV)

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while most of my Protestant friends would highly frown upon the fact that I’m reading a “Catholic bible” or Apocrypha(Deuterocannon)
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but there is a lot of truth in it... while a lot liken it to reading a Gnostic gospel,
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but these books were written way before Christ, and have long been a part of Jewish and Christian tradition, at least until Luther came along and declared this:
“Apocrypha - that is , books which are not regarded to as equal to the holy scriptures, and yet are profitable and good to read”
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and apparently Luther also wanted to throw out:
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the Epistle of James - (faith without works is dead)
Hebrews,
Jude
Revelations
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which leads me to wonder to what extent is the Protestant reformation is good and bad
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Affirmation of the universal priesthood of all believers
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other interesting articles i randomly googled up.
They, unfortunately have a rather catholic slant, so take it with a pinch of salt:
http://st-takla.org/pub_Deuterocanon/Deuterocanon-Apocrypha_El-Asfar_El-Kanoneya_El-Tanya__0-index.html
http://www.envoymagazine.com/backissues/1.2/marapril_story2.html
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perhaps, I shall for now... read the book of Sirach...