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Reading this on the bus on the way to Mass:
BALTIMORE CATECHISM No.3 (1885 ed.)
--Lesson Second: On God and His Perfections--
Q. 176. Is God just, holy, and merciful?
A. God is all just, all holy, all merciful, as He is infinitely perfect.
Q. 177. Why must God be "just" as well as "merciful"?
A. God must be just as well as merciful because He must fulfill His promise to punish those who merit punishment, and because He cannot be infinite in one perfection without being infinite in all.
Q. 178. Into what sins will the forgetfulness of God´s justice lead us?
A. The forgetfulness of God´s justice will lead us into sins of presumption.
Q 179. Into what sins will the forgetfulness of God´s mercy lead us?
A. The forgetfulness of God´s mercy will lead us into sins of despair.
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Liturgical Year A, Cycle I
Thursday of the Seventh week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Mass
First Reading: Sirach 5:1-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 1:1-2, 3-4, 6
Gospel: Mark 9:41-50
First Reading: Sirach 5:1-8
Rely not on your wealth; say not: "I have the power."
Rely not on your strength in following the desires of your heart.
Say not: "Who can prevail against me?" for the LORD will exact the punishment.
Say not: "I have sinned, yet what has befallen me?" for the LORD bides his time.
Of forgiveness be not overconfident, adding sin upon sin.
Say not: "Great is his mercy; my many sins he will forgive."
For mercy and anger alike are with him; upon the wicked alights his wrath.
Delay not your conversion to the LORD, put it not off from day to day;
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 1:1-2, 3-4, 6
Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.
Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God's law they study day and night.
They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.
But not the wicked! They are like chaff driven by the wind.
The LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
Gospel: Mark 9:41-50
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe (in me) to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, 1 into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'
"Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another."
(Fr. John's homily: referring to the Baltimore Catechism he reflects on the sin of presumption and despair, but especially presumption as it relates to the first reading.)
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The failed papacy of St. Celestine V
