III Lent Friday – Proverbs 10:31 – 11:12
31 The mouth of the righteous drops wisdom: but the tongue of the unjust shall perish. 32 The lips of just men drop grace: but the mouth of the ungodly is perverse. 11:1 False balances are an abomination before the Lord: but a just weight is acceptable unto him. 2 Wherever pride enters, there will be also disgrace: but the mouth of the lowly meditates wisdom. 3 When a just man dies he leaves regret: but the destruction of the ungodly is speedy, and causes joy. 4 5 Righteousness traces out blameless paths: but ungodliness encounters unjust dealing. 12 The righteousness of upright men delivers them: but transgressors are caught in their own destruction. 7 At the death of a just man his hope does not perish: but the boast of the ungodly perishes. 8 A righteous man escapes from a snare, and the ungodly man is delivered up in his place. 9 In the mouth of ungodly men is a snare to citizens: but the understanding of righteous men is prosperous. 10 In the prosperity of righteous men a city prospers: 11 but by the mouth of ungodly men it is overthrown. 12 A man void of understanding sneers at his fellow citizens: but a sensible man is quiet. 13 A double-tongued man discloses the secret counsels of an assembly: but he that is faithful in spirit conceals matters. 14 They that have no guidance fall like leaves: but in much counsel there is safety.
The sacred writer condemns “false balances” as an abomination before the Lord; the literal meaning of “balances” is, of course, the scales used to measure metal coin or other commodities as payment for goods or services rendered, or to measure out the commodity being sold. St. Ambrose of Milan, however, gives it a figurative meaning: The “false balances” are also the lies we tell with our tongues, not only in business dealings but in all the other activities of our lives as well:
Let each one weigh his words without fraud or deceit: “A deceitful balance is an abomination before the Lord.” I do not mean that balance which weighs out another’s pay… Before God that balance of words is detestable which simulates the weight of sober gravity while practicing at the same time cunning fraud. God condemns especially the man who deceives his neighbor with treacherous injustice. He will have no gain from his clever skill. For what does it profit a man if he gains the wealth of the whole world but defrauds his own soul of the payment of eternal life? – Letter 15
Most of us are not engaged in predatory business practices that include lying and cheating on a daily basis. Most of us, however, on the other hand, have probably concealed the truth sometimes to acquire some thing or some advantage, or to avoid the just penalty of our own imprudence, and these are sins we should confess and make restitution for.
The best way to prevent these sins in future is to acquire a sober, honest, and simple state of mind, in which truthfulness becomes second nature and deceitfulness not simply consciously unthinkable but even constitutionally impossible. Those who live this way suffer in the short term sometimes, but in the long run not only are they blessed by God but also beloved of men, or at least the men whose love a Christian should prefer. So how does one acquire a constant state of sobriety and honesty in mind and speech?
The lesson we learned yesterday about maintaining silence is a great help on the way to sobriety of mind: A quiet person usually avoids verbal snares more easily than a talkative person.
Another and great struggle we must engage in to acquire sobriety is the struggle to be freed of our vanity, which is the ensemble of delusions we have about ourselves: our fake self, our ego. To a greater or lesser extent – unless one is in a state of theoria freed of all the passions – we are all pretending to be something we are not. Let us cry out constantly with the prayer beloved of St. Gregory Palamas: “Lord, enlighten my darkness!” Freedom from vanity, accurate self-knowledge, is a spiritual grace of the highest order, and God wants us to ask for it. God wants to give it. If we get it, we will see not only the falsehoods about ourselves that we present to others, but also those that we are constantly presenting to ourselves; we will abhor all such thoughts and words, and flee them like fire.
O Lord, enlighten our darkness! Grant us the grace to see ourselves as we really are, to be simple, straightforward, and honest in all our thoughts and our speech, in order better to love Thee and to love our neighbor. Amen.