The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to examine our attitude to the vices and temptations that may lead us away from acting as disciples of Jesus in service of the “anawim” we encounter on our journey.
The reading from the Book of Sirach presents some precepts for everyday living.
* [5:1–8] The vices of the rich are pride and independence (vv. 1–2), presumption (v. 3), false security (vv. 4–6), and impenitence (v. 7), which cannot escape the divine wrath (vv. 7–8). Cf. Prv 18:23; 19:1; 28:6. (Sirach, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 1 outlines The Two Ways
* [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The Psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each “way” brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death. (Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB, n.d.)
The Gospel of Mark instructs on the Temptations to Sin.
* [9:43, 45, 47] Gehenna: see note on Mt 5:22.
* [9:44, 46] These verses, lacking in some important early manuscripts, are here omitted as scribal additions. They simply repeat Mk 9:48 itself a modified citation of Is 66:24.
* [9:49] Everyone will be salted with fire: so the better manuscripts. Some add “every sacrifice will be salted with salt.” The purifying and preservative use of salt in food (Lv 2:13) and the refinement effected through fire refer here to comparable effects in the spiritual life of the disciples of Jesus. (Mark, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)
Joan Blandin Howard comments that along with the cautions and consequences of sin – losing life, Jesus time and time again offers words of loving encouragement.
“Be not afraid”, “I will never abandon you”, “I loved you first”, “you belong to me”. And many others. “I will be with you through it all.” Jesus is telling us, I am and always will be at your side – celebrating joys, confronting disease and death, civil and global chaos.
In addition, remember we are temples of the Spirit. Pentecost celebrates this union, this eternal relationship. We quote Jesus, “I will be with you through it all.” Dare we add, I will be in you through it all. I will be with you, I will be in you. I celebrate with you, I celebrate in you, I weep with you, I weep in you.
Sit with this.
…I am in you through it all. (Howard, 2025)
Don Schwager quotes “Why not skip over such passages,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).
"This is no trivial subject of inquiry that we propose, but rather it concerns things most urgent, and about which many inquire: namely, whether hell fire has any end. For that it has no end Christ indeed declared when he said, 'Their fire shall not be quenched, and their worm shall not die' (Isaiah 66:24). Yes, I know a chill comes over you on hearing these things. But what am I to do? For this is God's own command... Ordained as we have been to the ministry of the word, we must cause our hearers discomfort when it is necessary for them to hear. We do this not arbitrarily but under command." (excerpt from the HOMILIES ON FIRST CORINTHIANS 9.1) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Sirach 5:1-8 comments that the problem with both types of presumption—which the Catechism calls “sins against hope” (2092)— are that they diminish the power of the cross in our lives. If we think we can save ourselves, then we didn’t need Jesus to die for us. And if we presume that he will forgive us even when we willfully sin again and again, then we cheapen the cost of his sacrifice. We take too lightly the depths of his suffering in the shedding of his blood.
The remedy for slipping into such attitudes is to recall the lengths to which God went to save us. Recall that Jesus came to earth and died for you. He came so that you could be reconciled with his Father. He rose from the dead and poured out his Spirit so that you could have all the grace you need to follow him.
Today, gaze at a crucifix and tell the Lord—out loud if possible—how thankful you are that he suffered and died so that you might live. The cost of his sacrifice was so great. May we never take it for granted!
“Lord, help me always remember what you have done for me!” (Meditation on Sirach 5:1-8, 2025)
Friar Jude Winkler notes the warning in Sirach against relying on things without permanence and forgetting the consequences of sin. The wisdom sayings in Mark focus on our responsibility to do good especially in care of the anawim and avoid giving scandal. Friar Jude reminds us that the response of Origen to temptation overlooks the use of Jewish exaggeration in the text from Mark.
James Finley introduces Jesuit scholar Harvey Egan who writes about the Dutch mystic John Ruusbroec. We invite you to use Finley’s instructions to sit with this passage from Ruusbroec’s famous text The Divine Espousals, in which he describes intimate union with God “without difference”.
In this storm of love two spirits struggle—the Spirit of God and our spirit. God, by means of the Holy Spirit, inclines [Godself] toward us, and we are thereby touched in love; our spirit, by means of God’s activity and the amorous power, impels and inclines itself toward God, and thereby God is touched. From these two movements there arises the struggle of love, for in this most profound meeting, in this most intimate and ardent encounter, each spirit is wounded by love. These two spirits, that is, our spirit and God’s Spirit, cast a radiant light upon one another and each reveals to the other its countenance. This makes the two spirits incessantly strive after one another in love. Each demands of the other what it is, and each offers to the other and invites it to accept what it is. This makes these loving spirits lose themselves in one another. God’s touch and his giving of himself, together with our striving in love and our giving of ourselves in return—this is what sets love on a firm foundation. [3] (Finley, n.d.)
We ponder the reality of sin in our environment and seek the guidance of the Spirit to address the damage it does especially to “children” of all ages.
References
Finley, J. (n.d.). John Ruusbroec: The Struggle for Love. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 27, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/
Howard, J. B. (2025, February 27). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved February 27, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/022725.html
Mark, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/9?41
Meditation on Sirach 5:1-8. (2025, February 27). The Word Among Us. Retrieved February 27, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/02/27/1215604/
Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1?1
Schwager, D. (n.d.). If Your Hand or Eye Causes You to Sin. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 27, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=feb27
Sirach, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/sirach/5?1
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