For there is a shame that brings sin; and there is a shame which is glory and grace.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 4:21 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 4
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
"Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces and your forehead hard against their forehead." Just as shame is laudable when confronting evil, so it is reproachful in dealing with what is good. To blush because of evil is to act like a wise person; to blush because of good is a foolish thing. Therefore it is written, "There is the shame of one who confesses his sin, and there is the shame of one who boasts." One who blushes, repenting of the evil he has committed, enjoys the freedom of life; one who is ashamed of doing good, however, falls from his upright state and tends toward damnation, as the Redeemer says: "If someone is ashamed because of me and because of my words, the Son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his majesty." And there are some who already conceive the good in their minds, but their word not being credible, they are not able to defend the truth. He is able to defend the truth who is neither afraid nor ashamed to say what he righteously thinks.
