Thomas Aquinas, on Job 31:19

“If I have despised him that was perishing for want of clothing, and the poor man that had no covering:”

“There are usually two obstructions to mercy. One is the contempt of the poor whom one judges not worthy of mercy. One usually despises those who dress in poor clothes and honors those who dress in rich clothes, as Sirach says, "the clothes of the body reveal the man." (19:27) But he excludes this obstacle to mercy from himself saying, "If I despised the man passing by," any stranger passing by on the road, "and the poor," someone I know, because he was "without covering," he implies here: Let these and other consequences happen to me.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.