Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 9

Where is it that the Scriptures have spoken of sin and its causes? It accuses the people who lived before the flood for their illegitimate unions. Hear how it cites the cause: “The sons of God, having seen how the daughters of men were fair, took them as wives.” And so? Beauty was the cause of sin? It could never be so. In fact, beauty is the work of the wisdom of God. And a work of God could never become the cause of wickedness. Was it, then, a sin for having seen them? No, for this is also nature’s work. What is it then? Having seen them with evil intentions—that, indeed, is very much the result of a corrupt will. Therefore also a wise man provided this exhortation: “Do not gaze on the beauty of others.” He did not say, “Do not look,” because it so happens that this occurs spontaneously; rather, he says, “Do not gaze on,” excluding the intentional consideration, the importunate gaze, the prolonged contemplations that derive from a corrupt soul and are prey to desire. But what damage, if one objects, could derive from this? “Following this,” it is said, “love lights up like fire.” Like fire, indeed, after it has reached hay or straw does not waste time but simultaneously sticks to wood and ignites a splendid flame, so also the fire of desire that is within us, after it becomes glued to a beautiful and splendid image through the instrumentality of the eyes, immediately burns the souls of the one who watches.

Homilies on Hosea 3:4

The New Testament must be held in veneration in such a way that the Old Testament not be neglected in any way. This is what Ecclesiasticus seems to me to recommend under the guise of old and new friends when it says, “Forsake not an old friend, for a new one does not compare with him.” From the mouth of Jeremiah, the divine Scripture anticipates the difference that is found in the mysteries of the two Testaments, saying, “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new testament with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the testament that I made with their ancestors.” For the other, that is, the New Testament comes, not like the Old Testament which was brought to an end by the Lord, but as the one in which the Lord has given the fulfillment of the commandments, and after he had removed the old mysteries, he instituted the different mysteries of the revealed truth. Therefore, what he promised in the Old he has brought to fulfillment in the New. Since therefore the knowledge of the mysteries of the New Testament can be truly salutary and joyful only if one acknowledges that the promise that went before in the mysteries of the Old Testament is true, when the Scriptures says, “Do not leave an old friend because the new one will not be like him,” there is immediately added, “A new friend is like new wine; when it has aged, you will drink it with pleasure.” What does “aged” mean except that the type of the New Testament appears in the Old Testament? This new wine is thus drunk with joy if its meaning and promise are acknowledged in the Old Testament.

Letters 14:46

“Know that you are walking in the midst of snares and that you are going about on the city battlements.” Everything is full of nets; the devil has filled up everything with snares. But if the Word of God comes to you and begins to appear through the nets, you will say, “Our soul has been freed like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters; the snare has been broken, and we have been freed. We are blessed by the Lord who has made heaven and earth.” The bridegroom “appears” then “through the nets.” Jesus has prepared the way for you. He descended to earth and submitted himself to the nets of the world. Seeing the great flock of humanity imprisoned in the nets and seeing that only he could tear them, he came to the nets and assumed a human body and subjected it to the snares of the powerful enemy and tore them apart for you. Thus, you can say, “See. He is at the back, behind our wall, watching through the windows, appearing through the nets.”

Homilies on the Song of Songs 2:12

That you may therefore with confidence draw near to God, do not receive wrath when it comes in on you and desires to be with you. Drive it away, instead, like a mad dog. For this is also what Paul commanded. His phrase was, “lifting up holy hands without wrath and disputing.” Instead, adorn it with gentleness, with humility, make it worthy of the God who is entreated, fill it with blessing, with much almsgiving. For it is possible even with words to give alms. “For a word is a better thing than a gift,” and “Answer the poor peaceably with meekness.” And all the rest of your time, too, adorn it with the rehearsing of the laws of God. “Yes, let all your communication be in the law of the Most High.” Having thus adorned ourselves, let us come to our King and fall at his knees, not with the body only but also with the mind. Let us consider whom we are approaching and on whose behalf, and what we want to accomplish.

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 51:5