Secondly: he is of no good but is rather injurious to his neighbor. Shown by a simile. Mark this: a dead body is not only useless to itself, because it can neither walk, nor stand, nor see, nor hear, nor move itself in any way whatsoever, but it is also troublesome, injurious, and intolerable to others who are in the house in which it is lying; for once it begins to decay it fills the place with an abominable stench; therefore it is put out of sight and buried as soon as possible. This is, as we know, the custom in the world. It is also the way in which God is wont to act with the idle man, as we read in the parable of the barren fig-tree. “Why cumbereth it the ground?” said the owner of the vineyard; as if to say: since that tree is barren it ought to be cut down. But that is not the only mischief it does. It cumbers the ground; it takes up the place of a fruitful tree, and moreover deprives the trees and plants in its neighborhood of the moisture and nourishment they should have. Away with it, then; cut it down; I will no longer have it in my vineyard.
Hence he is not to be tolerated by his Creator. So, too, does God say in His infinite justice: why does he cumber the ground? Why should that idle man live any longer? He bears no fruit for his soul, and takes up the place of others who would employ their time in a manner more pleasing to God and more useful to the world. The luxuries that he indulges in daily could feed many decent poor, who can hardly earn enough by hard labor to support themselves and their children. What he spends on dress for mere outward show could clothe many a poor person decently. What he squanders in gambling and amusing himself could support many a poor family. The duties he has undertaken to perform he neglects, because he dislikes work; thus he is the cause of injury to others. If another held the same office he would perform its duties more diligently, to the honor of God and the good of many. His children will be brought up to act like him and spend their time in paying and receiving useless visits, standing at the window, sleeping till late in the day, wasting their time in dressing, etc., and they will teach their children in turn; so that whole families will be thus brought to lead worthless lives. Cut it down, therefore! Away with the barren tree! “Just as the tree deserves to be cut down,” says St. Peter Chrysologus, “so the idle man ought to be cut off from the number of the living.”[1]
Even heathen nations Even heathens have acknowledged this truth, and therefore amongst all well-ordered nations and peoples idleness was always
- ↑ Sicut arbor e terra, sic iste ex vita meretur excidi.
