Sirach 42

Given that "all things are in pairs, the one opposite the other," as Jesus the wise man says, receive what I send you according to the letter and according to the spirit, and consider that in every case the letter presupposes the intellect: without this, not even the letter would exist. Thus prayer also involves two ways, active and contemplative. And the same for numbers, which in an immediate way express quantity and in their deeper meaning quality.

The enemy of holiness always presses virgins and troubles them, ready to devour them if someone wavers and falls. There are many insidious men, and beyond all this there is the fury of nature. She must prepare for a twofold war: one that attacks from the outside, and the other that disturbs within. Thus great is the fear of one who protects them, greater the danger and the anguish if something unwanted happens. If an enclosed daughter robs her father of sleep and anxiety for her keeps him awake over fear that she will be sterile or that she would age or no longer be loved, what would the suffering be of one who is worried not for these reasons but for other, much more serious ones? Here one does not refuse a man but Christ himself. Here sterility does not end in ignominy but in harm, in the ruin of the soul. "Every tree," says the Scripture, "that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire."

The apostle Paul, writing to the Hebrews about the Son, says, "Because he is the image of the invisible God and bears the seal of his being." And also Jeremiah, the wisest of the prophets, speaks of the person of God the Father and says, "If they had remained in my being and listened to my word, I would have turned them from their wicked desires." To make it understood that he had said this in reference to the Son, he adds, "Who has been in my being and has seen my word?" In fact, that the Word was the Son is affirmed by the prophet David, who said regarding the person of the Father, "My heart has spoken the good word." And John the Evangelist, knowing that the Word was with the Father, that is, that from the beginning the Son was with the Father and that the Word has never been separated from the Father, put this at the beginning of his Gospel, his pronouncement, saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word." In another passage the Scripture passed all of this down to us, saying, "The Word as the beginning of the work," not because in the creation of the Word (that is, beginning from the creation of the Son) God began to make the other creatures, but because through the Word of God (that is, through the Son) all created things are known. It is for this reason that the prophet David sings, saying, "By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made," and, to show that the Holy Spirit participated in this, he continued, "And from the Spirit of his mouth derived their every virtue."

"From a garment comes the moth, and from a woman the iniquity of a man."

If we wish to be most precious, we must cling to the price of the most valiant woman, the incorrupt, most obedient, and most loving Virgin. That woman, namely Eve, expels us from paradise and sells us; this one leads us back and redeems us.

Some have compassion on their flesh, not on their soul. "The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children." Such a one is not like the Virgin nor like Christ. "He boils his children" who has no compassion on his own soul, but exposes it to the fire of concupiscence and of infernal torments. Of such a woman it is said: "Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing good": you cannot afflict the body too much. Let us not give our body to sin.

Then, because mercy without emulating rectitude is worthless, there follows: "Of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand sealed." Levi is understood to mean "added." Levi received the priesthood on account of his zeal, wherefore he killed his idolatrous brother-priests. Phineas likewise obtained the priesthood because of zeal, and Mathathias and his descendants, because of zeal, obtained the priesthood and leadership, and they lasted until Herod. Levi signifies "prelates" who must have the spirit of severity and piety, as did Moses who, in spite of his extreme meekness, broke the tablets. By contrast, Heli, who was remiss, died together with his sons. Hence greater damage comes from a prelate who is merciful and rejects all rigor of discipline than from another who is rigidly merciless. In this sense is the passage of Ecclesiasticus understood: "Better a man's harshness than a woman's indulgence."

Let us take an example in the sun, which signifies in turn the Trinity, the wisdom of the Exemplar, the angelical order, and the Church Triumphant. The reference to the Trinity is found in Ecclesiasticus: "As the rising sun is clear to all, so the glory of the Lord shines upon all His works." The sun has substance, brilliance, and heat: likewise God has the originating principle, the Father; the brilliance, the Son; and the heat, the Holy Spirit. Yet it is the same sun in the sky as regards substance, in the eye as regards light, and in the body as regards heat. This is how a certain blind man was convinced who at one time had seen the sun and stood in the sun, and yet could not understand the Trinity of God.