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.
From: Mark 9:41-50
Scandal
[42] “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would
be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were
thrown into the sea. [43] And if your hand causes you to sin cut it off; it is better
for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable
fire. [45] And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter
life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. [47] And if your eye causes you
to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, [48] where their worm does not die, and
the fire is not quenched. [49] For every one will be salted with fire. [50] Salt is
good; but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in
yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
41. The value and merit of good works lies mainly in the love of God with which
they are done: “A little act, done for love, is worth so much” (J. Escriva, “The
Way”, 814). God regards in a special way acts of service to others, however small:
“Do you see that glass of water or that piece of bread which a holy soul gives to a
poor person for God’s sake; it is a small matter, God knows, and in human judg-
ment hardly worthy of consideration: God, notwithstanding, recompenses it, and
forthwith gives for it some increase of charity” (St Francis de Sales, “Treatise on
the Love of God”, book 2, chap. 2).
42. “Scandal is anything said, done or omitted which leads another to commit sin”
(”St Pius X Catechism”, 417). Scandal is called, and is, diabolical when the aim
of the scandal-giver is to provoke his neighbor to sin, understanding sin as offense
against God. Since sin is the greatest of all evils, it is easy to understand why
scandal is so serious and, therefore, why Christ condemns it so roundly. Causing
scandal to children is especially serious, because they are so less able to defend
themselves against evil. What Christ says applies to everyone, but especially to
parents and teachers, who are responsible before God for the souls of the young.
43. “Hell”, literally “Gehenna” or “Ge-hinnom”, was a little valley south of Jeru-
salem, outside the walls and below the city. For centuries it was used as the city
dump. Usually garbage was burned to avoid it being a focus of infection. Gehenna
was, proverbially, an unclean and unhealthy place: our Lord used this to explain
in a graphic way the unquenchable fire of hell.
43-48. After teaching the obligation everyone has to avoid giving scandal to others,
Jesus now gives the basis of Christian moral teaching on the subject of “occasions
of sin”—situations liable to lead to sin. He is very explicit: a person is obliged to
avoid proximate occasions of sin, just as he is obliged to avoid sin itself; as God
already put it in the Old Testament: “Whoever lives in danger will perish by it” (Sir
3:26-27). The eternal good of our soul is more important than any temporal good.
Therefore, anything that places us in proximate danger of committing sin should
be cut off and thrown away. By putting things in this way our Lord makes sure we
recognize the seriousness of this obligation.
The Fathers see, in these references to hands and eyes and so forth, people who
are persistent in evil and ever-ready to entice others to evil behavior and erroneous
beliefs. These are the people we should distance ourselves from, so as to enter
life, rather than accompany them to hell (St Augustine, “De Consensu Evangelis-
tarum”, IV, 16; St John Chrysostom, “Hom. on St Matthew”, 60).
44. “Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”: these words
constituting v. 44 are not in the better manuscripts. They are taken from Isaiah
66:24 and are repeated as a kind of refrain in vv. 46 (omitted for the same reason
as v. 44) and 48. Our Lord uses them to refer to the torments of hell. Often “the
worm that does not die” is explained as the eternal remorse felt by those in hell;
and the “fire which is not quenched,” as their physical pain. The Fathers also
say that both things may possibly refer to physical torments. In any case, the
punishment in question is terrible and unending.
49-50. “Every one will be salted with fire.” St Bede comments on these words:
“Everyone will be salted with fire, says Jesus, because spiritual wisdom must
purify all the elect of any kind of corruption through carnal desire. Or he may be
speaking of the fire of tribulation, which exercises the patience of the faithful to
enable them to reach perfection” (St Bede, “In Marci Evangelium expositio, in
loc.”).
Some codices add: “and every sacrifice will be salted with salt”. This phrase in
Leviticus (2:12), prescribed that all sacrificial offerings should be seasoned with
salt to prevent corruption. This prescription of the Old Testament is used here to
teach Christians to offer themselves as pleasing victims, impregnated with the
spirit of the Gospel, symbolized by salt. Our Lord’s address, which arises out of
a dispute over who is the greatest, ends with a lesson about fraternal peace and
charity. On salt which has lost its taste cf. note on Mt 5:13.
*********************************************************************************************
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.