It’s a beautiful passage. However, there are many powerful passages that were later determined to have found their way into the texts through glosses or other means, such as the Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7), which is just about the most convenient and direct proof of the Trinity. Unfortunately, the Johannine Comma is not attested to by the best manuscripts, and is now accepted as not part of the original text. The Vulgate in its best form omits it, but the DR has it. The embolism, “for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever” after the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew is another example. It’s great, it’s powerful, and it’s true, but it doesn’t belong there.
This Sirach passage is most likely also a gloss. It may be powerful and beautiful, but if the Holy Spirit did not inspire the original author to write that text, then it shouldn’t be there, unless the Church says otherwise. But look at verse 16 of the NAB. It matches up to a large degree.
An exception is John 7:53-8:11, the story of the adulterous woman. Scholars now generally accept that this text wasn’t originally part of the Gospel of St. John and is written in the synoptic, rather than Johannine tradition, but the Church ruled that it is inspired and canonical, and should remain in its traditional place. That’s why the RSV-CE returns the pericope to its place in John.
