The Book of Sirach on sin

I found this in John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, in his audience of September 10, 1980. (The link to the full audience in English can be found below)

“The soul heated like a burning fire / will not be quenched until it is consumed; / a man who commits fornication / will never cease until the fire burns him up; / to a fornicator all bread tastes sweet; / he will never cease until he dies. / A man who breaks his marriage vows / says to himself: 'Who sees me? / Darkness surrounds me, and the walls hide me; / no one sees me. Why should I fear? / The Most High will not take notice of my sins.' / His fear is confined to the eyes of men; / he does not realize that the eyes of the Lord / are ten thousand times brighter than the sun; / they look upon all the ways of men, / and perceive even the hidden places. / So it is with a woman who leaves her husband, / and provides an heir by a stranger” (Sir 23:17-22).

But fornication is not the only sin that can be applied to this Scripture quote. Rather, any sin can be applied here. And that sin will only continue to burn you up because no sin can ever find fulfillment. It only keeps growing and growing until it is recognized and pushed it out. The only way to extinguish the fire is repentance and confession.

http://www.theologicalclowning.org/039.html