Please FReepmail me to get on/off the Alleluia Ping List.
From: Sirach 5:1-8
Wealth and Presumption
[4] Do not say, “I sinned, and what happened to me?”
for the Lord is slow to anger.
[5] Do not be so confident of atonement
that you add sin to sin.
[6] Do not say, “His mercy is great,
he will forgive the multitude of my sins,”
for both mercy and wrath are with him,
and his anger rests on sinners.
[7] Do not delay to turn to the Lord
nor postpone it from day to day;
for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will go forth,
and at the time of punishment you will perish.
Loyalty and Sincerity
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
5:1-6. Presumption, that is, excess of confidence, is a very common temptation.
There are those who boast of their wealth, physical strength and intelligence, as
if they can do as they please, as if they were self-sufficient and had no one to
answer to. The point will come when “the Lord will surely punish” (v. 3), Ben Si-
rach warns. But there is an even worst form of presumption — that of those who
take the goodness and mercy of God for granted, who sin without fear of punish-
ment, who see no value in repentance, who do not heed the call to conversion
and penance.
We need to guard against such attitude, for it betokens a lack of faith: “It is writ-
ten: ‘The Lord who pays is patient’; that is, he may tolerate for a long time those
whom he will condemn forever. Sometimes, he acts with great speed, to have
mercy on the weakness of innocent souls. Sometimes, the almighty God allows
the wicked to prevail for a long time, so as to further purify the lives of the just;
and at other times, he strikes down the unjust immediately, and comforts the
heart of the innocent with his power. If he strikes down those who do evil now,
what will there be left to do when the final judgment comes? And if he does not
strike them down now, who could believe that God takes an interest in the affairs
of men? So sometimes he strikes the wicked to show that he does not allow evil
to go unpunished; and at other times, he puts up with evildoers for a long time so
that those who meditate upon it will see that judgment awaits them” (St Gregory
the Great, “Moralia in lob”, 5, 35).
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.