What is the ultimate virus to plague humanity? And is there a vaccine for it?
We, as Catholic Christians, are imperfect. We acknowledge our own sinfulness and are called, as St. Augustine said, to “hate the sin, yet love the sinner.”
Original sin has been so much a part of the history of salvation. Baptism takes away original sin, yet the inclination to sin remains.
Systemic sin among the unbaptized and baptized has been the ultimate virus to plague humanity since the fall of our first parents. Sins such as racism, abortion, human trafficking, theft, false witness, slander, etc., have been evils against the dignity of the human person since nearly the beginning of time.
For us as believers in Jesus Christ, “all lives are sacred,” created in the image and likeness of God as our faith teaches us. In these times – with popular slogans emphasizing the value of life – I’d like to share two key passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Sacred Scripture. The Catechism tells us:
“The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to Himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.” (CCC 27)
And in Jeremiah 1:5, we read again about the dignity of life: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.”
There is hope for all humanity! There truly is a vaccine for all sin, prefigured by the snake mounted on the pole in the desert, as we read in Numbers 21:9. The war against sin – including sin against the dignity of the human person – was fought and won by Jesus Christ once and for all.
Jesus Christ is our vaccine – the answer to overcome all sin. Like St. Paul (1 Cor 1:23), we proclaim Jesus Christ crucified! We have the Good News and are called to proclaim it: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Let us continue to pray for each other and all people in these times.
Father Richard Sutter is the pastor of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte.