Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
From the worship, fear, and honor of God he passes to the honor and respect of parents. Then, verse 19, he commends meekness and humility, and warns against seeking things too high. Third, verse 27, he reviews the punishments of a hard heart and, verse 31, contrariwise the happy outcomes of a wise heart. Finally, verse 33, he commends almsgiving and assigns its fruits.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiasticus 3:1-34
1. The children of wisdom are the assembly of the just; and their offspring is obedience and love. 2. Hear the judgment of your father, O children, and so act that you may be saved. 3. For God has honored the father in his children: and seeking the judgment of the mother, He has confirmed it upon the children. 4. He who loves God will obtain pardon for sins, and will restrain himself from them, and will be heard in the prayer of his days. 5. And as one who stores up treasure, so also is one who honors his mother. 6. He who honors his father will find joy in his children, and in the day of his prayer he will be heard. 7. He who honors his father will live a longer life: and he who obeys his father will bring comfort to his mother. 8. He who fears the Lord honors his parents, and will serve as masters those who begot him. 9. In deed, and in word, and with all patience, honor your father. 10. That a blessing from him may come upon you, and that his blessing may remain to the last. 11. The blessing of the father establishes the houses of children: but the curse of the mother uproots their foundations. 12. Do not glory in the dishonor of your father: for his shame is no glory to you. 13. For the glory of a man comes from the honor of his father, and a father without honor is the disgrace of his son. 14. Son, support your father in his old age, and do not grieve him in his life. 15. And if his understanding fail, bear with him, and do not despise him in your strength: for kindness to a father shall not be forgotten. 16. For in return for the sin against your mother, good shall be restored to you. 17. And in justice it shall be built up for you, and in the day of tribulation you shall be remembered: and as ice melts in fair weather, so shall your sins be dissolved. 18. How infamous is he who forsakes his father: and he who provokes his mother is cursed by God. 19. Son, do your works in meekness, and you will be loved beyond the glory of men. 20. The greater you are, humble yourself in all things, and you will find grace before God. 21. For great is the power of God alone, and He is honored by the humble. 22. Do not seek what is above you, and do not search into what is beyond your strength; but what God has commanded you, think upon always, and do not be curious about His many works. 23. For it is not necessary for you to see with your eyes the things that are hidden. 24. In superfluous matters do not search variously, and in many of His works you will not be curious. 25. For many things have been shown to you above the understanding of men. 26. The suspicion of these has also deceived many, and has detained their senses in vanity. 27. A hard heart will fare ill at the last: and he who loves danger will perish in it. 28. A heart that goes two ways will not have success, and the perverse of heart will be scandalized in them. 29. A wicked heart will be weighed down with sorrows, and the sinner will add sin to sin. 30. The congregation of the proud will not be healed: for the plant of sin will be rooted out in them, and it will not be perceived. 31. The heart of the wise is understood in wisdom, and a good ear will hear wisdom with all desire. 32. A wise and understanding heart will abstain from sins, and will have success in works of justice. 33. Water quenches a burning fire, and almsgiving resists sins. 34. And God watches over him who returns thanks: He remembers him afterward, and in the time of his fall he will find support.
Note: He urges children with twelve arguments to honor their parents; the first is in verse 2, that the salvation of children depends on honoring parents; the second, verse 3, that God has commanded parents to be honored as His vicars, and has transferred to them His own paternal power and authority, and therefore is honored in them; the third, verse 4, that one who honors parents will obtain pardon for sins and will be heard in prayer; the fourth, verse 5, that he will gather a treasure for himself; the fifth, verse 6, that he will find joy in his children; the sixth, verse 7, that he will have a long life; the seventh, verse 8, that nature teaches us that parents are to be revered as masters; the eighth, verse 10, that one honoring parents will be blessed by God; the ninth, verse 11, that the blessing of a father confirms the houses of his children, while a curse overturns them; the tenth, verse 12, that the honor and glory of a father is the honor and glory of the son, while the disgrace of a father is the disgrace of the son; the eleventh, verse 17, that God will deliver from any tribulation the one who honors his parents; the twelfth, verse 18, that he who neglects his parents is infamous and accursed. St. Ambrose reviews this entire chapter at the end of his Volume II, and appends two sermons on it; therefore I will cite him frequently, especially where he differs from the Latin Vulgate. For Ambrose follows the Greek text.
First Part of the Chapter
1. THE CHILDREN OF WISDOM ARE THE ASSEMBLY OF THE JUST; AND THEIR OFFSPRING IS OBEDIENCE AND LOVE.
This verse no longer exists in the Greek, and consequently not in the Syriac and Arabic; for these were translated from the Greek. The Arabic, however, combines the first and second verses into one, and translates them thus: O assembly of children, obey your fathers.
Sirach treated of wisdom in chapters I and II: here he shows in whom it resides and dwells, and who are truly wise — namely, not only speculatively, but also practically; for he teaches that these are none other than the just, who devote themselves to obedience and love. He establishes and sets forth this thesis as the foundation of what is to follow; and then descends to the particular case, namely the obedience and love that good children show to their parents, and from this confirms and demonstrates the thesis, and in fitting order. For since in chapters I and II he showed that wisdom is primarily seated in the fear and worship of God, which is established by the three precepts of the first table of the Decalogue, here he descends to the fear and reverence of parents, as God's vicars on earth, which is established by the first precept of the second table of the Decalogue.
The sense therefore is: "The children," that is disciples and students, "of wisdom," are "the assembly," that is the gathering and congregation, "of the just," as if to say: The truly wise are the just, and "their offspring," that is the race, lineage, and character, "is obedience and love," meaning: Such persons are entirely dedicated to, and wholly occupy themselves with and devote themselves to, obedience and love, so that they seem to have been begotten from it. Note here: The word "son," among the Hebrews, when joined with a genitive of reward or punishment, means the same as "worthy of"; so "son of Gehenna" means deserving of and guilty of Gehenna, "son of death" means guilty of death, "sons of the kingdom" are those worthy of the heavenly kingdom who merit it by their virtue; but when the word "son" is joined with a genitive of virtue or vice, it means the same as "devotee" and "disciple," one who studies and applies himself to virtue or vice; for he makes and forms himself virtuous from virtue, or vicious from vice, so that he may be considered to have been begotten, as it were from the seed of training or enticement in that virtue or vice. Thus "children of obedience" are called those who are obedient, who apply themselves to obedience; "children of pride" are called the proud, who pursue ambition and seek after high and haughty things.
The children of wisdom, therefore, are the wise who study wisdom, who eagerly drink in, absorb, love, and follow the teachings and dictates of wisdom, so that they seem to have been begotten from wisdom as from a mother, and therefore he adds: "and their offspring," that is lineage, namely their spiritual and mystical lineage, is "obedience and love," meaning: These children of wisdom — that is, its disciples and devotees — besides their natural and carnal generation, have another lineage that is supernatural, spiritual, and divine, namely of obedience and charity, from which they are spiritually begotten; for in these two things consists true practical wisdom. For they so devote themselves to obedience and charity that they can be said to be begotten from both.
Here learn morally how earnestly the wise and just ought to devote themselves to obedience and charity — indeed, so that they may seem to be not so much obedient and endowed with charity, as obedience and charity itself; because, of course, through continual practice they have made both so familiar to themselves that they seem to have converted them into their very nature: thus imitating God their Father, from whom they are mystically reborn, and who communicated to them this generation of His wisdom. For God is wisdom itself, goodness, and charity, as St. John says in his First Epistle, chapter IV, verse 16. This is what St. Ambrose says in his book On Noah, chapter IV: "Noah is preserved as the seed of the entire race, who is praised not for the nobility of his birth, but for the merit of his justice and perfection. For the race of a proven man is the lineage of virtue; because just as the race of men consists of men, so the race of souls consists of virtues. Indeed families of men are ennobled by the splendor of their lineage; but souls are glorified by the splendor of virtue through grace." Thus concerning St. Basil his brother, Gregory of Nyssa writes in the Funeral Oration: "What then is the nobility and renown of Basil's lineage? What is his homeland? His race, indeed, is his familiarity and kinship with God, and his homeland is virtue. For he who has received God, as the Gospel says, has power to become a son of God. And he who is endowed with virtue both cultivates it and derives his income from it, making his homeland entirely that in which he lives; sobriety was his dwelling, wisdom his estate; justice, truth, and purity served as the splendid ornaments of his buildings."
Hence secondly, "offspring" means "those born." Thus St. Augustine in the Speculum reads: And their children are obedience and love; and the Tigurina translates: The children of wisdom are the assembly of the just; and their offspring is obedience and charity, meaning: Just as the just are the mystical children of wisdom, so from it they beget mystical offspring, namely works of obedience and charity, which they continually perform and bring forth, so much so that they scatter the same among others and make them similar to themselves — that is, devoted to works of obedience and charity; and especially they strive with the greatest effort that their "offspring," that is, their children and sons, may earnestly pursue these things, so that, resembling their parents, they may seem to have been begotten from the womb of obedience and charity, just as the pagans said of the wonderfully temperate Cato, "that Cato was born from the same womb as temperance."
Moreover, Sirach here signifies not what always is the case, but what always ought to be, and what the just should strive and endeavor to achieve. For we see that some just persons are lax and lukewarm in obedience and charity; we see that their children are often disobedient and quarrelsome, as Absalom was to David, Manasseh to Hezekiah, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah to Josiah: but it is the duty of parents to impress upon their children their own justice, obedience, and charity, and therefore to embrace these with their whole soul, so that, as if transformed into these virtues themselves, they breathe nothing but them, and inspire and breathe them into their children and others.
Hence thirdly, Palacius explains it thus: The children of wisdom, he says, in whom the wisdom of God dwells, and whom that wisdom has begotten for itself as children by its word, constitute the assembly of the just. Now the children of these are most obedient, and so diligent that you may rightly call them obedience and love. Therefore the children of the just ought to obey exceedingly and love exceedingly. And Jansenius says: The just are obedience and love, that is, they are entirely devoted to obedience and love. For the Hebrews often metonymically use abstract terms for concrete ones, especially where there is hyperbole; just as the Latins call a very wicked person "a crime." And Rabanus says: "He rightly calls the children of wisdom the assembly of the just; because he who is truly wise is a true cultivator of justice; since true wisdom truly dictates the rule of justice. And he calls the offspring of the just obedience and love by a figurative expression, by which through the virtues themselves he designates the possessors of those virtues."
Hence learn that the sure sign and, as it were, the token of wisdom and justice is obedience and charity. Do you wish to know whether someone is wise and just? See whether he is obedient and diligent in love. If you find him such, boldly declare that he is wise and just; if not, declare that he is not. For "faith, which works through love" — that is, charity — "distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil," says St. Augustine, Sermon 53 On the Seasons. Again: "Obedience alone is the virtue that implants other virtues in the mind and guards them once implanted. Hence obedience is better than sacrifices, because through sacrifices the flesh of another is slain: but through obedience one's own will is slain," says St. Gregory, Book XXXV of the Morals, chapter X.
Finally St. Augustine on Psalm CXLIII: "Recognize the order," he says, "seek peace; you to God, your flesh to you; what is more just, what more beautiful? You serve the greater, the lesser serves you: serve Him who made you, that what was made for you may serve you. But if you disdain to serve God, you will never bring it about that your flesh serves you. He who does not obey the Lord is tormented by his servant."
Wherefore in Proverbs XXI, 28, it is said: "The obedient man will speak of victories," because, as St. Gregory said in Book XXXV of the Morals, chapter XII: "When we humbly submit to another's voice, we overcome ourselves in our heart."
Again he joins obedience to charity, to show that in practice one must be associated with the other as sister to sister, and that each is completed and perfected by the other. For the perfect obey in such a way that they love; they love in such a way that they obey. For this love of obedience — by which first they love their superiors as their parents; second, they love what is commanded; third, they love the very act of obeying — makes their obedience easy and perfect. For, as St. Leo says in Sermon 4 on the Fast of the Seventh Month: "Authority is softened for the obedient, nor is service rendered under harsh necessity where what is commanded is loved." And St. Ambrose on Psalm CXVIII, verse 2, Sermon 13, on the words: I lifted my hands to Your commandments, because I loved them: "He (the Psalmist David)," he says, "loved the law, so that he might willingly fulfill it. For he who loves does what is commanded out of will; he who fears, out of necessity." This is the obedience of charity, which St. Peter commends to the faithful in his First Epistle, chapter I, 22. For St. Bonaventure excellently says, in Process 6 of the Religious, chapter XL: "There is a threefold obedience," he says, "namely, of necessity, of desire, and of charity."
Finally he joins obedience to love, as daughter to mother; for love begets obedience in the mind. Hence children obey their parents because they love them, about whom he therefore adds the following discourse. Hence the children of wisdom — that is, the faithful and the just — are designated by the Apostle as children of obedience, I Peter I, 14, as well as children of love, Colossians I, 13.
Hence Clement of Alexandria, Book VII of the Stromata: "Just as," he says, "he who studies Plato becomes a philosopher; so he who obeys the Lord, and follows the prophecy given through Him, becomes, in the image of his Teacher, a God living in the flesh." Obedience therefore makes men divine and like gods on earth. Wisely does Blessed Lawrence Justinian say in his book On the Tree of Life, chapter III on Obedience: "Just as," he says, "without a general one has no confidence of victory, and without a helmsman one does not reach port; so without obedience it is impossible not to be imperiled on the sea of this life; for obedience makes a man triumph." More sublimely Climacus, at the Fourth Step: "Obedience," he says, "is the perfect denial of one's own soul, a voluntary death, a life free from curiosity, a danger without risk, an immediate excuse before God, a contempt for the fear of death, a safe voyage, a journey completed while sleeping. Obedience is the tomb of the will, the deposit of discernment."
And St. Gregory, Book IV on I Kings, chapter X, on the words: You shall wait seven days for me: "The offerings," he says, "are the acts of service of the obedient, because when we subject ourselves to men for God's sake, we overcome the proud spirits. With other virtues we attack the demons; through obedience we conquer them. Therefore those who obey are victors; because, while they perfectly subject their will to others, they rule over the very angels who fell through disobedience." And a little earlier, he teaches in what the perfection of obedience consists: "This indeed is the form of chosen obedience, that in everything we do outwardly, we look to the power of the Creator who is everywhere present. Thus indeed in the subjection of our obedience we can have both the rectitude of action and the increase of devotion. We are indeed upright in action when, for the sake of Him whom we behold, we exercise ourselves in the labor of obedience. We are also devout because we believe we are pleasing Him whom we regard as the observer of our labors and the giver of eternal reward."
2. HEAR THE JUDGMENT OF YOUR FATHER, O CHILDREN; AND SO ACT THAT YOU MAY BE SAVED.
He calls "judgment" the sentence, precept, and prescription — that is, what a father prescribes and judges ought to be done; but who is this father? First, the Greek and St. Ambrose take the father to be Sirach himself, or at least a wise man, as if wisdom were addressing its sons or disciples. For thus they have: Hear me, your father, O children. Second, Rabanus takes it as the eternal Father, that is God, who is the father of all, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named, as if to say: "He who hears the judgment of God the Father and keeps His precepts will without doubt be saved: whose commandment it is that honor and reverence be shown also to one's earthly father and mother." Third, plainly and simply, by "father" understand your parent. For he explains the obedience he spoke of, by commanding that children obey their father, on which obedience he subsequently speaks at length. Hence he says: "And so act that you may be saved," as if to say: "Hear," that is, obey the judgment and ruling of your father, O children; for thus you will ensure that you obtain both present and eternal salvation. He alludes to the reward promised by God to children who honor their parents: "Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time, and that it may be well with you," Deuteronomy V, verse 16.
Hence it is clear that a father, and likewise any superior, can command his son and subordinate under pain of sin, even mortal sin. For this is what is signified by "that you may be saved," as if to say: If you obey your father, you will be saved; if you do not obey, you will fall from salvation. Hence the Syriac translates: Children, hear your fathers and act, that you may live the life of ages upon ages; and the Arabic: O assembly of children, obey your fathers, that you may inherit everlasting life. He adds the reason, saying:
3. FOR GOD HAS HONORED THE FATHER IN HIS CHILDREN.
For God honored the father when He commanded children to honor their parents, as if to say: Therefore the father's judgment must be heard and obeyed, because God transferred His own honor, right, and authority to parents, commanding children to venerate them as His own vicars, to hear them, and to obey them. The physical reason is that God communicated His own fatherhood — that is, His power, force, and act of generating — to the father, and through him produced the children. Since therefore children receive from God through their father their very being and every good — namely that they exist, that they are human, that they are rational, that they are well brought up, that they are wealthy, etc. — it is fitting that they worship, love, and serve him as their principle, author, and begetter. This is the reason a priori, and therefore the principle, source, and origin of everything said here about honoring parents. Hence the Tigurina translates: For the Lord has made the father honorable to his children; the Syriac: For the Lord has glorified the father in his children; the Arabic: Because the Lord has fittingly established a debt upon the son toward his parent.
This is what Philo says in his book On the Decalogue: "Good children worship and revere their parents as certain visible gods." And he adds that for this reason the commandment to honor parents was placed by God the Legislator on the boundary of the two tables of the Decalogue — namely, at the beginning of the second table, immediately after the commandments about worshipping God given in the first table — to signify that next after God parents are to be revered, as our earthly gods. Hence the axiom of Aristotle in Book IX of the Ethics: "To gods, parents, and teachers no one can render an equivalent."
AND SEEKING THE JUDGMENT OF THE MOTHER, HE HAS CONFIRMED IT UPON THE CHILDREN. — "Judgment" here signifies both the right, authority, and power, and the sentence and precept, meaning: God wishes that each person's right be preserved: hence He demands — that is, He strictly commands, requires, and punishes — that the "judgment," that is, the ruling and authority of the mother, be preserved and observed by the children; and by this very fact He sanctions and confirms the mother's right, authority, ruling, and precept among the children, so that the children are bound to hear it as God's own precept and to obey it. For, as Aristotle says in Book VI of the Ethics: "Mothers love their children more than fathers do; because they are more certain that the children are theirs, and because they endure more labors around them."
For this reason Tobias on his deathbed earnestly admonishes his son, saying in chapter IV, 3: "You shall have honor for your mother all the days of your life." He adds the reason: "For you must remember what and how great dangers she suffered for you in her womb." Thus the seven Maccabean brothers gave back their lives to their mother and to God through obedience, offering them as a holocaust of martyrdom, to which their mother urged them, II Maccabees VII. St. Ambrose says excellently on Psalm CXVIII, Sermon 15: "I could not," he says, "without violating the right of piety, hate a father to whom I owe my creation; nor a mother who for the long tedium of ten months bore the burdens of her devoted offspring."
4 and 5. HE WHO LOVES GOD WILL OBTAIN PARDON FOR SINS; AND AS ONE WHO STORES UP TREASURE, SO IS HE WHO HONORS HIS MOTHER.
He who loves God by honoring parents, whom God as His vicars has commanded to be loved and honored by their children, WILL OBTAIN PARDON FOR SINS. The Syriac: He who honors his father, his sins will be forgiven; and he stores up treasures who honors his mother. The reason is that God considers honor given to a father as given to Himself, and He honors those who honor Him, hears those who hear Him, and, so to speak, obeys those who obey Him, and is far more indulgent and generous to those who are generous toward Him; for that supreme goodness does not allow itself to be outdone in beneficence or generosity by any creature.
6. HE WHO HONORS HIS FATHER WILL FIND JOY IN HIS CHILDREN.
The Tigurina: he will take delight from his children; the Syriac: he will rejoice in his son; because God will cause his children to be upright, healthy, capable, outstanding, and especially obedient to their father. For this is the law of retaliation, that what a son does for his father, he will receive the same from his own son. For "honor" here embraces not only respect and reverence, but also obedience, love, and kind service. To this point belongs that saying of Thales to his children: "Whatever reward you render to your parents, expect the same from your own children." And that saying of Epaminondas: "My greatest joy is that with both my parents still alive I have defeated the Spartans at the battle of Leuctra."
7. HE WHO HONORS HIS FATHER WILL LIVE A LONGER LIFE.
The Arabic: He who honors his parents, his life will be prolonged. For the son will be a partaker of his parents' justice, if he loves and honors them. For he is worthy of life who reveres the author of his life; unworthy, he who neglects him.
AND HE WHO OBEYS HIS FATHER WILL BRING COMFORT TO HIS MOTHER. — In Greek anapausei, that is, he will give rest to — meaning that in return for all the pains, cares, and sorrows that the mother endured for him in conception, birth, and upbringing, he will at last bring her joy and peace of mind.
8. HE WHO FEARS THE LORD HONORS HIS PARENTS; AND HE WILL SERVE AS MASTERS THOSE WHO BEGOT HIM.
For fear — that is, reverence, worship, and love of God — impels us to do His will and law, among which the first commandment of the second table orders that parents be honored. The honor owed to parents does not consist merely in standing up, uncovering the head, addressing them with respectful words, lowering the gaze, and bending the knee; but rather in obedience and service, that one serve them "as masters;" for in them God is represented, and God's dominion shines forth.
9. IN DEED AND IN WORD, AND WITH ALL PATIENCE, HONOR YOUR FATHER.
He prescribed the general manner of honoring, saying: "And he will serve as masters those who begot him;" here he descends to its particular modes. And so he says one's father is to be honored: first, "in deed" — namely by carrying out the tasks the father assigns, by laboring for his and the family's support; second, "in word" — so that one speaks honorably of one's father, answers him humbly, consoles him when afflicted; third, "with patience" — so that one patiently bears the father's anger, harshness, authority, and difficult habits, and receives his commands humbly and carries them out cheerfully. He therefore commands that children by patience overcome the peevishness of parents, especially elderly ones; just as the patience of fathers endured the silliness and importunity of their small children.
10. THAT A BLESSING FROM HIM MAY COME UPON YOU, AND THAT HIS BLESSING MAY REMAIN TO THE LAST.
He subjoins the fruit and reward as a stimulus. Admirably St. Ambrose comments on Luke chapter XVIII: "Honor is not only of reverence but also of generosity. Feed your father, feed your mother; even if you have fed your mother, you still have not repaid the pains she endured for you; you have not repaid the nourishment she provided with the tender affection of piety, pressing her breasts to your lips. She fasted for you, she ate for you; she kept vigil for you, she wept for you — and you allow her to be in want? O son, what great judgment you bring upon yourself, if you do not feed your parent! You owe to that one what you have, to whom you owe what you are."
Furthermore, this blessing of God is not fleeting and evanescent, but stable and solid. "And may His blessing remain unto the last;" because it is compensated with an eternal reward, says Rabanus — that the divine favor and blessing remains and is preserved for that hour so tremendously perilous, namely, the hour of death and the strictest examination, where the die of eternity is cast.
11. THE BLESSING OF THE FATHER ESTABLISHES THE HOUSES OF THE CHILDREN; BUT THE CURSE OF THE MOTHER UPROOTS THE FOUNDATIONS.
This parental blessing, being as it were from the authority and right of lordship and fatherhood granted and conceded to them by God, tends to be efficacious, and to be brought into effect by God. By "houses," understand not merely material structures, but much more the offspring and family: The blessing of the father causes the son to be endowed and to endure with offspring and family, rich, honored, and splendid.
An example of blessing is found in Shem and Japheth, who were blessed by Noah; in Isaac, who was blessed by Abraham; and in Jacob, who, blessed by his father Isaac, became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. An example of cursing is found in Ham, who, mocking his father Noah naked from wine, was cursed by him, and transmitted this curse to his descendants the Canaanites. A similar example is reported by St. Augustine, Book XXII of The City of God, chapter VIII, about a mother who, cursing her ten children, made them all trembling, wretched, and wandering.
12. DO NOT GLORY IN THE DISGRACE OF YOUR FATHER.
He alludes to Ham, who mocked the nakedness of his father, Genesis IX, 22. For proud and perverse sons are accustomed, in order to display their own wisdom, wealth, and strength, to want to appear wiser, richer, and stronger than their parents, and therefore they publicize their parents' foolishness, poverty, and miseries, which they ought to have concealed.
13. FOR THE GLORY OF A MAN COMES FROM THE HONOR OF HIS FATHER: AND THE DISGRACE OF THE SON IS A FATHER WITHOUT HONOR.
For the son is a part of the father and mother. Just as, therefore, whoever violates and harms the whole violates and harms all the parts, so whoever honors or dishonors the father or mother honors or dishonors all his children, and consequently himself.
14. MY SON, SUPPORT THE OLD AGE OF YOUR FATHER.
In Greek, antilabou, that is, support. He commands that the old age and the aged habits of the father be not merely tolerated by the children, but also helped, cherished, and relieved with consolation, service, sustenance, and every kind of assistance. The reason is that in the old age and white hair of the father there shines forth the generation, antiquity, and eternity of God, so that when children gaze upon their white-haired father, they seem to themselves, as with Daniel, to see the Ancient of Days and His white hair, Daniel VII, 9.
Wherefore Plato, in his eleventh dialogue On the Laws: "Whoever has a father or mother worn out by old age lying at home like a treasure, let him think that no other such image, more efficacious, will ever be present in his house, if it is properly honored by him." Aristotle moreover, in Book I of the Ethics, chapter II, teaches that children ought to help their parents more than themselves: "For one ought to ransom one's father even more than oneself."
15. AND IF HIS UNDERSTANDING FAIL, GRANT HIM PARDON; AND DO NOT DESPISE HIM IN YOUR STRENGTH.
St. Ambrose: have pardon, that is, forgive. For old men, as their brain deteriorates, sometimes become delirious; he commands, therefore, that mental decline, and even delirium, in a father should not be blamed by the children, nor mocked, but tolerated, overlooked, and relieved — because the father tolerated, formed, corrected, and refined the childhood, foolishness, and childish ways of the son.
FOR ALMSGIVING TO THE FATHER WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN. — "Almsgiving," in Hebrew chesed, that is, piety, benevolence, mercy shown to the father. This almsgiving to the father is owed by the son, and therefore it is called "justice" by the Arabic: "Justice toward the parent is not blotted out, and by it a multitude of sins is blotted out."
16. FOR ON ACCOUNT OF THE SIN OF THE MOTHER, GOOD SHALL BE RESTORED TO YOU.
The word "for" has emphasis: Any almsgiving toward the father will be remembered; but almsgiving on account of the sin of an aged mother — who is typically more fretful, more impatient, and therefore more difficult to bear — has many promises: first, that "good shall be restored to you;" second, that it shall be built up for you "in justice;" third, that on the day of tribulation it will cause God to be mindful of you; fourth, that it will dissolve your sins.
Plainly and genuinely, "on account of the sin of the mother," namely, the sin endured: Because you, O son, have patiently borne the impatience, fretfulness, quarrels, harsh words, and blows of your mother, therefore as a reward good will be returned to you by God, both in this life and in the future.
17. AND ON THE DAY OF TRIBULATION HE WILL REMEMBER YOU: AND AS ICE IN FAIR WEATHER, SO SHALL YOUR SINS BE DISSOLVED.
That very almsgiving will refresh God's memory of you, it will plead and accomplish your cause before God. For the kindness of the son toward the father and mother is like heat, indeed like the sun melting and abolishing all the ice of sins. "For charity covers a multitude of sins," I Peter IV, 8. The day of tribulation will be turned into a day of fair weather, and while for others it is a cloudy day, for the merciful it will be fair, since God provides and rewards the honor of parents.
18. HOW ILL-FAMED IS HE WHO ABANDONS HIS FATHER: AND CURSED BY GOD IS HE WHO EXASPERATES HIS MOTHER!
Note here that contempt for parents is called blasphemy, because blasphemy is an insult hurled against God or the Saints; and parents are vicars of God, and like certain earthly gods. Hence Rabanus: "He is held guilty of the crime of impiety who is irreverent toward his parents."
Furthermore, the curse of God, just like His blessing, is not verbal but real and efficacious. For God to bless is to abundantly do good; to curse is to abundantly do harm — that is, to punish with poverty, disgrace, diseases, adversities, and finally death and hell.
Cyril represents this same thing with an elegant apologue of the viper and her offspring in Book III of the Moral Apologues, chapter XXVI, whose title is: Against the Vice of Ingratitude. "A pregnant viper," he says, "when she had brought her offspring to full maturity, feeling terrible bites in her entrails, said to them with exceedingly bitter complaint: What is this crime that you are committing? Do you return evil for good, because you tear the womb that carried you?"
Second Part of the Chapter, Which Commends Meekness and Humility
19. MY SON, PERFORM YOUR WORKS IN MEEKNESS, AND YOU WILL BE LOVED BEYOND THE GLORY OF MEN.
Sirach has instructed the son concerning the honor of parents; now he instructs him concerning other things and other persons, and first of all that in all things and with all persons he should conduct himself meekly and humbly — especially because humility and meekness is the fountain and origin of honor to parents, and of all virtue and good. For a meek and humble manner honors everyone, and thus wins them over; but a harsh and proud manner despises and oppresses everyone, and therefore alienates, offends, and exasperates them.
He adds the reward and prize of meekness: "And you will be loved beyond the glory of men," by which he signifies that meekness wins a man's love more than any other splendor and glory. People far more love and desire to see meekness and the meek than glory and the glorious.
Morally, St. Bernard, in Sermon 2 on the Conversion of St. Paul: "Meekness is battered by a triple battering-ram, as it were: by verbal injuries, by losses of property, by bodily harm. In these three consists every exercise of patience, every practice of meekness."
20. THE GREATER YOU ARE, HUMBLE YOURSELF IN ALL THINGS, AND BEFORE GOD YOU WILL FIND GRACE.
In Greek: The greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things. The reasons for this precept are many. The first is that high position tends to inflate men and to incite them to arrogance. The second, because true greatness is humility. For humility alone exalts; humility alone is magnanimity. The third, because the school of Christ God is a school of humility: "Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart," Matthew XI. The fourth, from St. Gregory: "When gifts are increased, the accounting for those gifts also increases." The fifth, from Sirach himself: "And before God you will find grace." For God places His grace only in a humble heart. "God does not put the oil of mercy except in the vessel of trust," says St. Bernard. The sixth, because in this matter consists both the perfection of humility and the summit of virtue.
And so, just as that most noble Orator Demosthenes, when asked what seemed to him most important in the precepts of eloquence, is said to have answered: delivery; when asked what came second, the same delivery; and what third, nothing other than delivery — so, as St. Augustine says, if you were to ask about the precepts of the Christian religion, he would wish to answer nothing other than humility.
21. FOR THE POWER OF GOD ALONE IS GREAT, AND HE IS HONORED BY THE HUMBLE.
Therefore humble yourself supremely, and you will receive the greatest grace from God, because God is supremely honored by humility; and therefore He is supremely refreshed and delighted by it. The reason a priori is that God is the supreme exaltation: and to this supreme exaltation, supreme humility is properly owed.
An illustrious example of this humility and meekness was St. Francis, who through it obtained the grace and glory of God, of angels, and of men — he so possessed the land of his heart and body, that with his soul thoroughly imbued with this meekness, he subjected himself to the spirit for all labors and penances. Through it he attained the primeval innocence that Adam had in paradise, so that even wild animals recognized him as their master. Finally, he so put on the meekness of Christ that Christ impressed the stigmata of His five wounds on his hands, feet, and side.
22. DO NOT SEEK WHAT IS ABOVE YOU, AND DO NOT SEARCH INTO WHAT IS BEYOND YOUR STRENGTH; BUT WHAT GOD HAS COMMANDED YOU, THINK UPON ALWAYS, AND DO NOT BE CURIOUS ABOUT HIS MANY WORKS.
From the humility of living, Sirach passes to the humility of learning and being wise. The meaning is: Do not curiously scrutinize what God wished to be hidden from you, that is, things concealed and wrapped in nature itself. Here is relevant that saying of the Hebrews: "It is not permitted to ask by what counsel or for what reason the Creator did this or that. Do not curiously inquire into the deeds of God."
Therefore those seek higher things who curiously scrutinize what transcends their station and capacity; who investigate things that cannot be investigated by the light of reason; such as those who consult fortune-tellers, who question astrologers about future events. Moreover, those who curiously investigate whether they are predestined by God, against whom the Wise Man thunders in Proverbs 25:27: "He who is a searcher of majesty shall be overwhelmed by glory." And the Apostle in Romans 11:33: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways!"
More divinely, Thomas a Kempis, in The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 3: "What good is it to argue at length about hidden and obscure things, for the ignorance of which we shall not be reproved at the judgment? Certainly when the day of judgment comes, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done; nor how well we have spoken, but how devoutly we have lived."
23. FOR IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR YOU TO SEE WITH YOUR OWN EYES THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE HIDDEN.
This is litotes: for less is said, and more is signified. "It is not necessary for you" — indeed it is not fitting, not expedient, it is shameful, irrational, and often impossible to accomplish. Wittily that Egyptian porter, carrying something covered with a veil, said to a curious person asking what he was carrying: "It is covered precisely so that you would not know; why then do you seek what is concealed?"
24. DO NOT SCRUTINIZE SUPERFLUOUS THINGS IN MANIFOLD WAYS.
He opposes superfluous things to the necessary things which God has commanded each person: Attend to necessary things, namely knowing and fulfilling the commandments of God, and apply your whole heart and time to them; therefore omit superfluous things, that is, things that are not necessary, useless, vain, curious; for in these you will uselessly spend time, mind, effort, and labor.
25. FOR VERY MANY THINGS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO YOU ABOVE THE UNDERSTANDING OF MEN.
This is a new reason why curiosity should be avoided. God has shown and revealed to us many natural and supernatural things, necessary and useful, which surpass our capacity, so that we might occupy our intellect with them, lest we apply it to superfluous and useless things. Much more do the mysteries of faith and theology surpass our capacity, such as the mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Eucharist.
Thus astronomers in this age, through the telescope and diligent observations, have noted many things in the heavens which were unknown to Aristotle and the ancients: that Venus and Mercury move around the sun; that Jupiter has four smaller stars which move around it; that Venus waxes and shows horns like the moon, which I myself clearly observed through the telescope.
26. FOR SUSPICION HAS ALSO TRIPPED UP MANY, AND HAS DETAINED THEIR UNDERSTANDING IN VANITY.
He shows by five reasons that higher things should not be scrutinized. Suspicion and opinion about higher things that transcend one's capacity has deceived and tripped up many; for they suspected and opined that they understood and grasped things which they did not grasp and could not grasp; therefore they fell into grave errors by which they ruined both themselves and others. "Curiosity," says St. Augustine, Tract 97 on John, "has begotten heresy."
Third Part of the Chapter, Which Assigns the Punishments of a Hard Heart and the Rewards of a Wise Heart
27. A HARD HEART SHALL FARE ILL AT THE LAST: AND HE WHO LOVES DANGER SHALL PERISH IN IT.
A hard heart is produced by pride and the frequent habit of sinning; for this habit, since it is like a second nature, hardens the mind in sin. He passes from humility to hardness as to its opposite. He therefore opposes the hard heart both to the meekness and humility which he commended in verses 19 and 20, and to the obedience which he commended to children in verse 2.
St. Bernard divinely defines and describes the hard heart, in Book 1 of On Consideration: "What is a hard heart? It is a heart alone that does not shudder at itself; because it does not feel. It is one that is not pierced by compunction, not softened by piety, not moved by prayers, does not yield to threats, is hardened by scourges. It is ungrateful for benefits, faithless to counsel, cruel in judgments, shameless in disgraceful things, fearless in dangers, inhuman toward human things, reckless toward divine things, forgetful of the past, negligent of the present, not providing for the future. And, to embrace briefly all the evils of this horrible evil, it is one that neither fears God nor respects man."
HE WHO LOVES DANGER SHALL PERISH IN IT. — This maxim excludes fate, which seduces many into avoiding no danger. Wherefore theologians rightly conclude that one who has experienced that association with certain persons was for him an occasion of sin is absolutely bound to abstain from such association, unless necessity compels him. St. Augustine gives the reason: "He who does not guard against a danger he can guard against, tempts God rather than hopes in Him."
28. A HEART ENTERING TWO WAYS WILL NOT HAVE SUCCESS, AND THE WICKED OF HEART WILL BE SCANDALIZED IN THEM.
The Hebrew leb derachaim, "a heart of two ways," is one that tends toward two contraries; that wishes to serve God and the devil; that wishes to devote itself to the law of God and the law of the world. This is what Christ says in Matthew 6:24: "No one can serve two masters." For Elijah cries: "How long do you limp between two sides?" A good mother wants her son whole, not divided; so God wants the heart whole, not divided.
29. A WORTHLESS HEART WILL BE WEIGHED DOWN WITH SORROWS, AND THE SINNER WILL ADD SIN TO SIN.
By his wickedness, hardness, and obstinacy he treasures up for himself the wrath of God, according to Romans 2:5: "According to your hardness and impenitent heart, you treasure up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath." For, as St. Gregory says, Book XXV of the Morals: "A sin that is not blotted out by penance soon drags one by its own weight to another." St. Augustine experienced this in himself: "The enemy held my will, and from it had made a chain; for from a perverse will lust was formed; and when lust was served, habit was formed; and when habit was not resisted, necessity was formed."
30. FOR THE CONGREGATION OF THE PROUD THERE WILL BE NO HEALTH: FOR THE SHOOT OF SIN WILL BE UPROOTED IN THEM, AND WILL NOT BE PERCEIVED.
The hard-hearted and proud, because they despised the admonitions of God and men, and admitted no cure, will in their time be gravely and incurably punished, so that they cannot be healed. The "shoot of sin" — that is, all their power and ability to sin, in which they now seem rooted and established — will be utterly taken from them, so that no trace of it will appear, according to Psalm 36:35: "I saw the wicked exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon. And I passed by, and behold he was not: I sought him, and his place was not found."
31. THE HEART OF THE WISE MAN IS UNDERSTOOD IN WISDOM, AND A GOOD EAR WILL HEAR WISDOM WITH ALL DESIRE.
Against the hard, unteachable, inflexible heart he sets the heart of the wise man, as being teachable, flexible, studious, and submissive to wisdom. Sirach teaches here that for wisdom is required first, a heart eager for wisdom; secondly, a teachable ear, which gladly hears the teachings and counsels of salvation; to which if there be added thirdly the hand, that is, activity — so that one practices in deed what he has heard — he attains perfect wisdom, that is, virtue. Wisely St. Bernard, Sermon 28 on the Song of Songs: "Let the ear, the first gate of death, be the first opened also to life."
32. A WISE AND UNDERSTANDING HEART WILL ABSTAIN FROM SINS, AND WILL HAVE SUCCESS IN WORKS OF JUSTICE.
For practical and true wisdom consists in the avoidance of sins and the exercise of virtues. This is the second antithesis of the hard heart and the wise heart. The hard heart will add sins to sins; but the wise heart will abstain from them. St. Ambrose, On Jacob and the Happy Life, ch. 8: "Perfect virtue always remains amid both adversities and delights." And: "The wise man is not broken by fear, not changed by power, not lifted up by prosperity, not sunk by sorrows: the wise man remains perfect in Christ, grounded in charity, rooted in faith."
This is the third antithesis: the hard heart will not have success, because it has God as its adversary; but the wise heart will have success, because it has God as its patron.
Fourth Part of the Chapter: On Almsgiving and Its Fruits
33. WATER EXTINGUISHES A BURNING FIRE: AND ALMSGIVING RESISTS SINS.
He passes in right order from wisdom and justice to almsgiving, because this holds the first place among the works of justice. He aptly compares sin to fire and almsgiving to water. First, because just as fire burns and injures the body, so sin injures, kills, and scorches the soul. Secondly, because just as fire excites flames, so sin rouses concupiscences. Thirdly, because sins kindle the wrath and vengeance of God. Fourthly, because sins prepare for the sinner the fire of hell. All these fires of sin almsgiving quenches with wondrous power.
For "resists," the Greek has exilasetai, that is, "will expiate" sins. "Mercy triumphs over justice," James 2:13. Almsgiving therefore is an atonement for sin, and as it were a sacrifice for sin, according to Daniel 4:24: "Redeem your sins with alms."
The reason why almsgiving extinguishes sin is first, because those who are merciful to others win for themselves the mercy of God: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," Matthew 5:7. Secondly, because the poor pray to God for their benefactors. Thirdly, because all can give spiritual alms — praying for the poor, consoling them, and especially forgiving offenses: "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you," Matthew 6:14. Fourthly, because almsgiving is an act of charity, and "charity covers a multitude of sins," James 5:20.
Mystically, St. Cyprian takes the water as baptism: "Here it is shown and proved that just as the fire of hell is extinguished by the washing of saving water, so by alms and just works the flame of sins is quenched. And because the remission of sins is given once in baptism, constant and unceasing good works, imitating baptism, again bestow God's indulgence."
St. Ambrose compares almsgiving to, indeed prefers it over, the water of baptism: "For almsgiving itself consumes the fires of hell. Therefore almsgiving is in a manner another washing of souls — except that almsgiving is more indulgent than the washing; for the washing is given once, but as often as you give alms, so often you merit pardon." From what has been said, learn how great is the power, dignity, usefulness, and necessity of almsgiving.
34. AND GOD IS THE GUARDIAN OF HIM WHO RETURNS THANKS: HE REMEMBERS HIM AFTERWARD, AND IN THE TIME OF HIS FALL HE WILL FIND SUPPORT.
God provides for and watches over in all things the almsgiver who does good, shows mercy, and gives alms to the needy, according to the words of Paul: "He who sows in blessings shall also reap from blessings; and He who supplies seed to the sower will also furnish bread for eating, and will multiply your seed," 2 Corinthians 9. See St. Chrysostom's homily That Almsgiving Is the Most Profitable of All Arts.
GOD REMEMBERS IT FOR THE FUTURE — so that He may reward it in due time, as Christ appeared by night to St. Martin, who had given half his cloak to a poor man, displaying it before the angels and saying: "Martin, still a catechumen, has clothed Me with this garment."
AND IN THE TIME OF HIS FALL HE WILL FIND A SUPPORT. — If the almsgiver falls into adversity, if he encounters calamities, God, mindful of his almsgiving, will prop him up, strengthen him, raise him, restore him to his former state — indeed, He will heap upon him even greater goods and gifts. Secondly, Palacius takes this of a fall into sin: If it happens that the almsgiver falls into sin, in that very fall he will find the almsgiving he gave as something to lean upon, in order to rise again. This is what Tobias says in chapter 4: "Almsgiving frees from all sin and from death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness."
Finally the Psalmist, Psalm 40:1: "Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and the poor; in the evil day the Lord will deliver him." St. Cyprian at the end of his treatise On Works and Almsgiving gives it these praises: "An illustrious and divine thing, dearest brothers, is the saving work of almsgiving — a great consolation for believers, a salutary defense of our security, a bulwark of hope, a safeguard of faith, a remedy for sin. It is a thing placed in the power of the doer, a thing both great and easy, a crown of peace without the danger of persecution, a true and most excellent gift of God."
These therefore are the three fruits of almsgiving: first, that like water it extinguishes sins; second, that it remains in the memory of God, so that He may reward it; third, that in a fall it is a support.