There are sins of not doing. We are not accustomed to look at our sins of omission as we do at our sins of commission. We call it a sin when one does another an injury, but we are not so likely to call it a sin when one fails to show another, suffering or in need, a kindness which it was in his power to render. Yet, in God’s sight, it is a grievous sin to withhold the good it is in our power to do.
This is taught in a most striking way by our Lord in his representation of the last judgment. To those on his left hand the King will say, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.” There are no sins of commission charged against these condemned persons. It is not said that they were liars, or dishonest; that they were unjust, cruel, or inhuman; that they oppressed the poor, crushed the weak, defrauded the orphan and the widow. All that is said of them is that they did not feed the hungry, did not give drink to the thirsty, did not provide hospitable shelter to the stranger, did not clothe the naked, and did not visit the sick or the prisoner. They were condemned for not doing the things of love that awaited for them day by day. Terrible is the arraignment, too, and terrible the judgment: “Depart from em, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels,” — because you have not done the things of love that made their appeal to you.
We are slow to accept this teaching. At the close of a day we examine ourselves, and review the day’s record, to find wherein we have done wrong. We remember the hasty word we spoke which gave pain to a tender heart, and confess it. We recall with penitence our self-indulgence, our lapses from truth, honesty, or integrity, even our breaches of courtesy. But, in counting up the sins of the day, do we think with regret or pain of the things we did not do? Are we penitent for our sins of omission? We have “passed by on the other side” of many a human need and hunger. Do we confess these sins at the ending of the day?
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