Leviticus — Chapter 6

The law of the trespass-offering (Lev. 6:1-7) covers sins of fraud, injustice, and false oath against one's neighbour. The remedy includes restitution of the principal plus a fifth part, and the sacrifice. Lapide: this demonstrates the inseparability of justice and piety: the sin against the neighbour must be repaired materially before the sin against God can be expiated sacramentally. This is the Mosaic basis for the confessor's obligation to require restitution as a condition of absolution.

The fire upon the altar must burn continually, never going out (Lev. 6:13). Lapide draws the tropological sense from Origen: this perpetual fire is the unceasing love of God in the heart of the just, which must never be extinguished by negligence, distraction, or sin. As the material fire was kept alive by the priests adding wood, so the fire of charity is preserved in the soul by the constant fuel of prayer, reading, penance, and the sacraments.

The fire on the altar shall always burn, and the priest shall feed it, putting wood on it every day in the morning (Lev. 6:12). Lapide: the unceasing fire figures the perpetual prayer and praise which the Church offers to God. As the morning wood-offering kept the fire alive, so the Morning Office (Lauds) and Mass of each day are the wood that keeps the liturgical fire of the Church burning perpetually. The daily sacrifice of the Mass — morning and evening oblation (Num. 28) — corresponds to the daily renewal of this fire.